Dragon Desire: Emerald Dragons Book 2 Read online

  The iron bars grazed the scales of his stomach, sparks erupting as he passed by far too close for comfort. With the tower behind him Torran went to spread his wings, only for his ultra-sharp eyes to pick out one of the support cables coming at him in a hurry.

  “Shiittttttt.” He ducked his head low, and the cable scraped down his spine. “OW!” he yelped as a spike was caught by the cable and ripped from his back near his tail.

  Then he was past and he spread his wings, beating frantically against the pull of gravity, lifting him back into the air.

  Rowe’s chuckles reached him as he pulled alongside the other dragon, breathing far heavier than his friend, who had wisely been paying attention to where they were going and had banked around the offending tower by a wide margin.

  “You couldn’t have warned me any earlier?” he growled.

  “I thought you were smart enough to watch where you were going. We’re not flying very high tonight and you know it. Keep your head in the game, and stop daydreaming.”

  Torran mocked him under his breath, but he kept his gaze focused forward. “To answer your question, I don’t know.”

  “Exactly. I think we would be wise to at least consider the fact that there may be some truth in what they’re claiming, Torran.”

  “Ridiculous.”

  “All right, fine. Have it your way.”

  “Finally.”

  He could all but see Rowe rolling his eyes, the catlike pupils managing to look rather similar to humans when they did. Torran knew; he’d seen it many a time. Often directed at himself.

  They flew onward in silence. The ground below them became more and more dominated by farmsteads. Some were the massive facilities of mega-corporations, while others had the smaller more traditional look and feel of family-operated businesses. Torran didn’t know much about farming itself, but he was well versed in humanity.

  Palin knows something about farming now. What a schmuck. I can’t believe the big dope actually let himself be pulled in to doing manual labor!

  “There,” Rowe said a few minutes later, and together the pair began to circle as they descended toward a brightly lit farmhouse.

  Torran eyed the grounds around it. They were all but covered in snow, the early winter storm having passed through a few days ago. The roads were clear now, but the fields were frozen and still held drifts of snow here and there where the ground dipped or rose slightly. Most of them looked untouched, lying fallow. He knew this was because until Palin had come along, his mate—Torran shook his head at that in disbelief still—had worked the land by herself, which meant much of it went unused.

  The two dragons touched down in the front yard with a grace that might seem out of place with their outsized fifty-foot size. Torran felt his claws dig deep into the frozen dirt. His wings creaked and settled against his sides.

  “What are you waiting for?”

  Rowe was already in his human form, heading toward the front of the house. Torran shook his head. “You first.”

  “What the hell do you mean ‘me first’?”

  Torran flashed him a smile full of teeth, but said nothing.

  Clearly irritated, Rowe walked up to the house and rapped smartly on the door. It opened to reveal an agitated Palin, his face showing signs of stress that Torran thought shouldn’t have been there until he recognized Rowe.

  The elder dragon began to speak. “Palin, I—”

  CRACK!

  Rowe tumbled backward down the steps, landing on the frozen ground and holding his nose as it poured blood. Palin came fully outside, shaking his fist from where it had slammed into Rowe’s face.

  “Like I said,” he repeated as Rowe got to his feet. “You first.”

  Palin glanced up, as if seeing the dragon in the yard for the first time. “What the fuck are you two doing here, and give me one reason why I shouldn’t beat the piss out of you right now?”

  Rowe climbed to his feet, hands out to his side. “Or’bers,” he mumbled through his mangled face.

  Torran hissed, laughing at the sound. Rowe would heal soon, but the mangled speech in the meantime was great. He wished he’d caught it on camera.

  “What the hell is he talking about?” Palin growled. “I’ve got other shit to worry about besides you two right now. Explain, and quick.”

  Torran’s mighty lungs rose and fell, but he still didn’t shift. Not yet. “We got sent back to spend more time among the humans with you. Apparently the elders favored your report over ours.”

  “Is that so?” Palin glowered at Rowe in triumph.

  “Yes.”

  “Well you sure as shit aren’t staying here.”

  Rowe spoke up. “We have orders—”

  “Calm down, chief, I didn’t say I’m tossing you out into the wind. I have somewhere else to dump your annoying asses. It’s close by, just in case shit goes downhill.”

  “You know, I don’t recall doing much to get put on your shit-list,” Torran muttered. “I was just following orders.”

  “Yeah well, sometimes you need to learn when those orders are dumb, and thus need to be ignored. I hope you find a way to look past the bullshit that’s been spoon-fed to you,” Palin retorted. “But if you want to stay off my shit-list, then you can come with me.”

  Torran, not wanting to be around Rowe just then, started to shift, but Palin waved him off as he saw him concentrate. “You don’t want me to shift?”

  “No. We’re in a hurry. Cars would take too long.”

  Palin stalked away from Rowe until he was in an empty space of the yard. “You stay the fuck away from the house until I get back. You can crash on some hay in the barn if you need to sleep off your boo-boo.”

  Torran watched intently, curious as to where the newfound strength and power Palin had found was coming from. He glanced back at the house and saw a figure standing in the doorway. That was the source, he realized, his mate Sandy. Finding her had imbued Palin with a confidence he’d not known before. Torran eyed the bald-headed shifter curiously, watching as he shifted in the blink of an eye, his human figure replaced by a viridian-green colored dragon.

  “Let’s go.”

  “Where, exactly are we going? I’m kind of tired.”

  Palin spread his wings and prepared to leap from the ground. “To get someone from the city.”

  Torran scoffed and made no move to follow. “I am not a taxi service for anyone, let alone humans.”

  The other dragon jumped, mighty wings beating down so strongly that Torran was forced to close his eyes against the dirt and debris they stirred up.

  “She is my mate’s best friend. And she’s in trouble.”

  “Trouble?” he looked up, his innate desire to protect women in bad spots cropping up at the worst possible time.

  “Someone is threatening to hurt her if we don’t get there in time.”

  “Aww shit. Why the hell didn’t you say so?” Torran leapt into the air, his dragon lips pulled back, exposing his predatory teeth meant for ripping flesh from bone.

  If there was one thing he couldn’t abide in the world, whether human or shifter, it was when the strong picked on those weaker than them. He had an especially soft spot for women. Even human women; he would do whatever it took to ensure they were safe if he could.

  Knowing that this particular woman was a friend of Palin’s mate, and someone was threatening her physically was all it took to get Torran on board.

  “Let’s go,” he growled, beating his wings hard, catching up to Palin and passing him. “We can’t be late.”

  It didn’t matter that he’d flown all night and was exhausted. Torran wasn’t going to let her come to harm while he could still do something about it.

  Chapter Three

  Lilly

  A buzzing noise reached her ear.

  She paused, trying to figure out what it was. Her phone! Lilly dropped the bag and darted into the bedroom. Someone was calling her from a private number. She didn’t dare answer it. The call went to mis
sed, and she waited for a voicemail. Instead she got a text.

  Dee: Lilly? Are you okay? It’s me calling. My mate is outside your door knocking. Can you answer it?

  Lilly: Knocking? They’re breaking down the door! Why are they doing that?

  Dee: You didn’t answer! My mate was worried you were already in trouble.

  The oddity of her friend’s word choice didn’t register. There was a final cracking of wood and she heard the door fall inward with a thud. Whoever it was had quite literally removed the door from the frame, instead of kicking it in.

  She crept to the top of the stairs and peered downward, terrified of what she might see. The first man through the door was dressed in a plaid shirt and dark blue jeans, with tan working boots that looked new, though they’d clearly seen use. He came to a halt and looked up right at her without hesitation.

  “Are you Lilly?” he asked.

  Lilly nodded, nervously. He was one of the biggest men she’d ever seen in her life. His sheer size left her off-balance for a moment, fighting to recover. Damien was possibly around his height, but he was just big. This man was pure muscle, and it showed. He repeated his question.

  “What?” It was all she could muster.

  “My name is Palin. This is Torran. Sandy said you needed help, that your situation was bad.”

  The giant bald man stepped slightly to the side to reveal another hulking male, but Lilly’s brain was already moving on. She recognized the name Palin. It was unique, and to her knowledge she’d never mentioned the name of Sandy’s man to Damien after she’d gone out to see her old friend two months ago. That was just before she’d told Damien about their child. Just before everything had changed.

  She made a snap decision. “Okay, let me grab my bags.”

  “You’re safe now,” the other man said suddenly, stepping forward. “You won’t come to any harm with us. Take your time.”

  “Thanks, but I’d just as rather get the hell out of here as fast as possible.” She ran to the closet, grabbing the big duffel before retrieving her smaller bag from the dryer. “Okay, I’m ready.”

  “Palin. We have company.”

  Lilly froze, already halfway down the stairs when the second man spoke up. “What?”

  “Motorcycles entering the complex. Several of them.” She couldn’t see his face because he was looking back out the door.

  “Oh no. That’s Damien and his gang. They’re coming. Quick, you need to go! I’ll tell him something. I’ll…” She looked at the broken door in horror, trying to come up with an explanation.

  “Lilly, we need to go. Now. Come on!” Palin held out his hand. “We don’t to have to fight them. We can do this peacefully.”

  But she couldn’t move. Visions of Damien coming storming in flickered through her mind. There was no doubt about who he would take his anger out on. That person was standing on the stairs, unmoving.

  “You two go. I’ll tell him that a rival gang broke it down, but fled when they heard him coming. Here, take my bags.” She tossed them at the two big men, glad she’d packed clothes Damien wouldn’t know were missing. It looked like she was going to need that.

  “We’re not leaving without you.” The other man entered the room, looking at her strangely, but with urgency on his face.

  His extremely handsome face. It was kind of blocky, squareish, what you might expect from a boxer perhaps, but covered in a fine layer of short stubble. The lighter-colored beard didn’t quite match the hair on his face, which was more brown, while the beard had a somewhat reddish tinge to it. All of that surrounded two eyes that exuded calm, even in the midst of a developing situation.

  Just staring into his features and the lack of panic in them helped to calm Lilly. Enough that she could regain her focus.

  “You have to. It’s the only way.”

  “No it’s not,” the big man said, shaking his head just hard enough to bounce the close-cropped hair on his head. “Is there a back door?”

  “Well sure, but…Hey!” Before she could finish speaking the man had moved forward, sweeping her off her feet in a movement that would have been romantic as hell in any other setting.

  He walked toward the back of the house, leaving Palin to snatch up her bags and follow after him.

  “What’s your name?” she asked as he used his foot to slide open the rear door. “I usually know the names of men I allow to carry me across a threshold.”

  The joke rang hollow with her as she was reminded of the ring on her finger. A ring that an entirely different man than the one she was leaving had put there. It had been only six months earlier, but it felt like a lifetime.

  “Wait,” she said, struggling out of his grip before he could reply. “Stop.”

  He came to a halt as she ran back to the house. “That is not the way out of here,” he called.

  “I know that. I’m in trouble, not stupid. Don’t patronize me,” she snapped back, pausing at the entrance for a second. She could just hear the motorcycles coming to a halt out front, angry voices yelling about the door.

  Lilly stepped back inside, pausing at the kitchen counter nearest the door. Fiddling with her left hand, she pulled the diamond engagement ring off her finger. Taking one long look at it, remembering all the good times she’d had and the man she’d agreed to marry, she set it down on the counter.

  “Lilly?”

  She stifled a gasp. Damien was inside the house! She hadn’t even heard him come up the front walkway. Tiptoeing backward, she slipped out the back door. Palin and Torran were waiting for her, Torran gesturing like mad for her to get a move on.

  “The back door is open!”

  Oh shit. She started running, intending to just blow past Torran, but he snatched her up on the move, holding her tight to his chest. Lilly started to tell him she could keep up just fine, but in reality she was already out of breath. Torran meanwhile was still accelerating. Their backyard wasn’t enclosed, and he took off into the nearby park as shouts sounded behind them.

  “He’s coming!” she gasped, resting her arms on two very muscular-feeling shoulders to peer behind them.

  Damien burst out from the shrubs that marked their property line, moving rather quickly for a man of his size.

  “Do not worry,” Torran said calmly.

  Lilly gasped. He wasn’t even breathing hard, nor was his voice strained. “You’re in really good shape,” she said, barely bouncing, held firm by two arms covered in corded muscle that worried at the seams of his shirt.

  “Yes.”

  There was a sharp crack from behind them, and something went whistling by her head. “What the fuck was that?”

  “Bullets,” Torran said, shifting her so that her head was more covered by his shoulder.

  Another crack followed, and she heard Torran grunt in something that might have been pain. “Are you okay?” she asked, horrified that Damien might have shot Torran.

  “Yeah. I’m fine.” There was no disguising it; his voice was even more strained than before. “Just fine. Peachy. Dandy. Absolutely lovely.”

  “Don’t you dare put your life on the line for me,” she snapped. “If you’re hurt you put me down and get out of here. I am not letting you sacrifice yourself for me. I don’t even know you.”

  “Perfect, we have a deal then.”

  “What?”

  “I get you out of here, and in return you agree to get to know me.”

  She frowned. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

  “No,” he grunted as another bullet went whistling by, digging up some dirt in the ground just ahead of them. “I think the timing would be fairly bad to do that. I suspect we’re going to be living close to one another for the foreseeable future, however.”

  Lilly looked at him, trying to figure out if he was crazy or not. He had to be, with what he was doing, yet Torran seemed entirely nonplussed by the entire situation. In fact…she looked a little closer. “Are you enjoying yourself?!”

  The tug at his lips that she�
��d noticed grew stronger, until he most definitely was smiling. She knew, because it was the most beautiful look on a person she’d ever seen before. He had two rows of perfectly aligned white teeth and a killer twinkle in his eye. Before she could think it over Lilly found herself answering him.

  “Okay,” she said almost dreamily, completely distracted by his smile. “It can’t hurt, can it?”

  “I promise it won’t hurt.”

  “Good. Otherwise I’m going to let him shoot you.” What the hell was she doing? Joking about him being shot? “Please don’t put me down!” she added as her words registered with her hormone-overloaded brain.

  He was too good-looking. It might not hurt, but it was going to be trouble. Lilly could feel that she wasn’t free yet. In fact, she might have traded one sort of trouble for another. Maybe. Wait, no, what the hell was she thinking?! She barely knew Torran. Once the adrenaline from the night wore off, she would be able to think straight again.

  “I won’t let him hurt you,” Torran said with a quiet ferocity that scared her. “I would sooner die.”

  “Please don’t do that either. I doubt I could outrun him.”

  “I don’t think you need worry about that,” Torran said, slowing.

  Lilly looked around, slowly recognizing the features as belonging to a street three neighborhoods over. “How the hell did we get here so fast?”

  Damien was nowhere to be seen, and beside them Palin slowed as well, still holding onto both of her bags.

  “Thank you,” she said from where Torran held her tightly to his warm body, the heat pouring from him warding off the cold she should be feeling right about then. “I owe you both so much.”

  Palin shook his head. “You owe us nothing. This was the right thing to do. Plain and simple.”

  “What he said,” Torran rumbled, his chest vibrating as he spoke, the velvety tone of his bass voice sounding like heaven in her ears. How did he do that?

  “You can put me down now if you’d like,” she told him as they stopped, the two huge men looking unsure of themselves for the first time since they’d barged into her home.

  It’s not my home. It’s Damien’s home. It’s never been my home. Not even when I first moved in with him. That should have been the first sign. I should have noticed something was up then, but I didn’t.