Dragon Fae (The World of Fae) (7 page)

Instantly, her whole body heated. He hadn’t overtly shown her this much interest ever. Was he bothered that she’d seated the human prisoner beside her?

“We haven’t eaten. Thanks for the invite,” Halloran said, drawing her attention to him. He was watching her and Alton curiously, but he seemed more amused than perturbed by Alton’s actions. Her brother called out to the kitchen, “Lila, bring us two more plates.”

Ena’s butler was standing at the serving table, waiting for her to allow him to serve everyone wine. She nodded, but when Ryker tried to add wine to Brett’s glass, he covered it with his hand and shook his head.

She was still pondering being stuck with her brother and his friend’s arrival and thinking she might as well make the most of it, but she didn’t like this business with Alton just because she had a prisoner guest at the table.

She had a choice. She could either put up with Alton’s pushiness and try to ignore the way his leg was pressed up against hers, making her blood heat—but not in an angry way, she was loathe to admit. Or she could scoot away from him and thereby brush up against the human’s leg.
Heaven forbid.

First, she did not want to pretend any interest in the human. Second, knowing the way Alton was, if she moved away from him, he’d adjust his seat again, and move closer once more. Then she’d be hemmed in, her legs brushing up against both boys and nowhere for her to go. Unless she moved to the head of the table.

Then Brett would be more defenseless against both her brother and Alton. She wouldn’t do that to him.

That’s when she noticed Ryker looked puzzled as to what to do with the human who didn’t want any wine.

“Can’t handle it, eh?” Halloran taunted Brett.

She hated to ask Brett what he wanted to drink other than wine. Soda? They didn’t have stuff like that here. Water? Milk? That was about all they had to drink other than wine.

“Get him some water,” Ena said, without bothering to ask Brett. She didn’t want it to appear that she was treating him like he was supposed to be a special guest.

“Maybe someone can pop into the human’s world and pick him up one of those goddess-awful carbonated drinks,” Halloran said. “Water?” He shook his head.

Ena shouldn’t have done it because she had no idea which direction her action would lead to, but she patted Alton’s leg and said, “Alton drinks water. Don’t you? Nothing wrong with it at all.”

Now, Alton could be a hard-scaled dragon-man and shake his head and agree with her brother, or he could try to get on her good side and agree with her.

Halloran turned to Alton, who was now put on the spot. Alton smiled easily. “Water in coffee works, sure. Without it, it’s just all powdered flavoring or coffee grinds.”

Halloran laughed. “I knew there was a reason I liked you.”

Brett took that moment to tell Ryker as he brought him a glass of water, “I’ll take coffee. Thank you.”

Ryker immediately looked for Ena’s input. He was not about to give her prisoner something he’d asked for when she had not okayed it.

“He can have water,” she said, annoyed with Brett for forcing her to take a stand. She knew her brother and Alton were sitting on the edge of their seats, waiting to say something if she had allowed Brett to have his way.

If her brother and Alton hadn’t been here, she would have allowed him to have coffee, or tea, which she belatedly recalled she could have offered also. Or milk. Whatever they readily had available that he would have preferred. But not with her brother and his friend watching her every move, listening to her every decision.

She was about ready to send the human to his room without his supper because this whole business of having him here was way too nerve-wracking. Except if she mentioned it, her brother would realize she had given the prisoner a guest room and was not sending him to the dungeon. Not even her brother knew she hid all her treasure in her dungeon cells. Any dragon shifter worth their treasure would have caves to store their bounty in and a dungeon to store their prisoners in, when they captured one. They were usually the unfortunates who tried to steal from a dragon’s treasure and got caught at it. Although, when she reconsidered the point, those who hadn’t been captured, were usually piles of ash, scattered in the winds often plaguing caves high up in the mountains so she supposed they might be considered even more unfortunate.

She expected Brett to be upset with her, when she shouldn’t care, but she did. He just nodded to her, and then to the butler, as if accepting his fate. Her brother eased back in his chair and said, “Well said.”

Alton kept his mouth shut for which she was grateful.

She sighed, took a sip of her wine, and hoped the meal would be over with quickly, when she’d really looked forward to a nice long enjoyable dining experience, not wanting to think about the older man that she’d had to eliminate.

She really hadn’t wanted to kill the human, wishing he’d given up his quest to manacle her. But she hadn’t had much of a choice either. Either he killed her and Alicia, or she killed him and saved the princess.

She noted Alton was watching her, probably wondering why she wasn’t eating anything.

Ever since last year, he had changed, she thought, again considering the way he was pressing his advantage. He’d been more aggressive in showing his interest in her. He’d taken issue when another male dragon her age had spoken with her, or when she was dragon, flew too close to her. At first, she thought Alton believed he was serving as her brother when he was not around, who would act in the same manner with her—like a protective older brother might behave.

Come to think of it, when Alton had gotten overly close, Halloran had never objected.

Which had her wondering if Halloran and Alton had come to some kind of agreement that Alton wanted Ena for his mate and all other dragons—claws off.

She had every intention of choosing her own dragon mate among the possible suitors—eleven, to be exact. Not that all eleven of the eligible bachelors had any interest in her. One, she believed was hung up on Aideen, which meant little fire in Irish, but she’d overcome her little fire name once she’d turned five. She did have long black locks that some of the male dragon fae preferred, and more of a wickedly sultry look. Ena looked more pixie-like, even though she wasn’t anything like their kind.

One of the male dragons was interested in a dragon fae who was not a shifter, of all things. So she scratched him right off her list.

One shifter wasn’t interested in girls yet. Late bloomer, she believed. But he still had potential. All things considered, she would choose her own prize. Alton might be the one. Or he might not.

“I hear you killed the one fae seer’s father. Good, I say,” Halloran said, forking up another chunk of pink salmon. “But why did you bring this one back with you?” He pointed his speared salmon at Brett.

“He might be a fae,” she said simply. Not feeling she owed her brother an explanation, she gave him one anyway, knowing if she hadn’t, he would keep hounding her until she had given him one.

“Alton is worried for your safety.”

She glanced at him. Was he? He was eating his meal, avoiding looking at her. He probably didn’t care for his brother’s remark. Dragons didn’t worry about other dragons. They could take care of themselves.

“He thinks you want to sleep with the human.”

Ena had just taken another sip of her wine and choked on it.

Alton glowered at her brother. “I know she has better sense than that.”

Thank the goddess for that. But she wondered if the two of them
had
discussed the matter. She would not have put it past them. And that annoyed her all the more.

“Besides, I’d kill him myself.” Alton gave Brett a heated look that said he would roast him alive if he so much as laid a hand on Ena.

She had not expected this from her brother or Alton. And she had never considered having anything to do with the human other than keeping him alive and making him earn his keep as they all did. Including Ena herself. She knew she shouldn’t say it, but she was used to saying what was on her mind, and she didn’t like that they were telling her what they would do to
her
prisoner. If they didn’t like what she had to say, so be it. They had started the war!

“I hadn’t considered what to do with him. A love slave? Now there is an idea.”

She thought she heard her butler standing near the serving table groan. He knew she hadn’t been serious—or at least she hoped he knew she hadn’t been.

Her brother’s faced turned scarlet, however. “The king should never have allowed you to bring this human into your home as your prize. I will give you some of my gold—name your price—to take him off your hands.”

His comment made her mouth gape. That was a first! He must have been really worried about her. No way would he ever part with his treasures for something like a human prisoner.

“He is priceless to me,” she said, not willing to sell the prisoner off.

The problem with doing so, though it could uncomplicate her life to a degree, was that she didn’t want to have to tell Princess Alicia she had sold him to her brother, should the princess ask. Nor did she want to treat him as a slave, and selling him would give that impression. Most of all, she didn’t trust what her brother might do to him. Stick him in the dungeon, most likely. Only serve him wine, since the human seemed to have an aversion to it. Torture him for having murdered fae just because they were fae, no other reason. Eliminate him, possibly.

Alton placed his hand on her thigh. She glowered at him, but he did not remove his hand. Before, he’d always teased her mercilessly along with her brother. Now, the way his dark eyes studied her, she saw the interest, but also the warning.

“He is dangerous,” Alton said, his voice rough.

She parted her lips to refute his claim. His heated gaze studied her mouth.

For a moment, she thought he wanted to kiss her. At the dining table. In front of her brother. Cook, who had just entered the dining hall with a tray full of fresh sourdough rolls. And one human prisoner. For one insane moment, she wanted him to. Kiss her.

She quickly looked away, felt her whole body heat as a quiver of unexpected unease ping-ponged in her stomach. “He won’t harm anyone here,” she assured Alton, unable to meet his gaze. She wasn’t used to this part of the courtship phase—if she had to make up a name for it.

She didn’t want an audience if Alton wished to kiss her.

“He killed the fae seers,” Alton insisted, his tone deadly, his hand tightening on her thigh, his whole body stiffening with rage, his intent—to make her see his way in this.

She removed Alton’s fingers from her leg with a jerk, but he quickly seized her hand and for a moment, she wasn’t sure what had happened. One minute, she was seated at her dining table, and the next minute, inky blackness enveloped her. Then she realized she was at Alton’s keep…now in the gardens.

Red roses bloomed profusely here and she wished she had someone who might turn her plain all-green garden into something as lovely as this.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she snapped, her voice rising.

She didn’t want his servants to hear her, should any be about out here and she just couldn’t see them. She could have just returned to her keep with a flick of her wrist, but his deadly expression made her stay where she was—standing on a red brick path surrounded by roses, the fragrant tea-scent wrapping around her. She stayed, not because she was afraid of him. Because she wasn’t. But she thought he was truly worried about her, and she wished to resolve this right here and now. She didn’t need him and her brother popping in unexpectedly all the time to ensure she was all right.

Before she realized what he was about to do, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

She was burning up as he pressed his lips against her mouth, willing her to part them for him. And when she took a steadying breath, he took it as an invitation, his tongue teasing hers. Wicked, delicious, sensuous. His hands cradled her head, kept her from falling back or melting into the brick walk and made her forget about everything.

Until she heard Alton’s advisor clear his throat.

Chapter 6

“What are you doing?” Ena shoved Alton away, but only after she had enjoyed the kiss! But she didn’t want Alton’s staff to spread the word that she’d been kissing him in his gardens. The other dragon shifters who might be interested in her wouldn’t like it.

“Kissing you,” he growled. “You know you wanted it as much as I wanted it.”

“Not that!” She couldn’t bring herself to say he was right. That she loved the way he had kissed her so tenderly like he really cared for her. But she also knew he had taken her away from her keep and away from the human because—dare she say it?—he was jealous? Would he have kissed her otherwise?

He clenched his hands at his sides, his eyes narrowed. “He is a
human
!”

Of that she was well aware!

“Yes! And my prisoner. Nothing more.”

“The others will talk.”

He was worried about gossip? “Let them.” People were always talking about her. What did she care?

“I will kill them!”

She couldn’t help herself. She smiled. She didn’t think Alton’s scowl could grow any deeper. But it did.

She took a deep breath. “I can’t explain.”

“You want a
love slave
!”

She stared at Alton, unable to believe he was serious. As fiercely as he studied her, she realized he
did
believe she wanted the human for that reason.

“You can’t be serious. Brett…”

“He is your prisoner!”

The inference was she shouldn’t be referring to him by name, which sounded too much like she thought of him in more intimate terms.

“Next, you will put him in a chamber of his own. And then he will work his way into
your
chamber! He is even eating your food at the dining table. Not at the servants’ table! And sitting beside
you
! He should be manacled in the dungeon for his crimes.”

Alton wouldn’t understand.

“All right. There’s no explaining this to you.”

She was about to return to the keep and her now
cold
meal when Alton took hold of her arm in a controlling, but as gentle a manner as he could manage, considering he was still angry with her over the human. “Wait. We’ll return together. I can’t say that I will like this arrangement of yours ever.”

She nodded. “Princess Alicia wanted his life spared, and I like her. I will keep him until I choose otherwise.”

“Princess Alicia,” he said warily, as if it was finally dawning on him that Ena had not taken the human in strictly because she had wanted him.

She hadn’t even considered that her brother or Alton would have thought that.

Many were unsure of the princess’s claim to the throne should her grandfather step down. Many didn’t like the interest Princess Alicia had shown in the human girl, Cassie. Alicia was not human, and they didn’t believe she should continue to associate with even one of them. They felt her loyalty suspect. And she wasn’t fully dragon fae either, which had a few declaring—again—that her loyalty to their people might not be as clear as it might have been. On top of that, the fact she’d been raised among humans—well, she was just a mystery and most didn’t care for the idea.

“Yes. She believes he might be fae like
she
was. So I will carry out her wishes and see for myself if he is fae or not,” Ena said.

“And if he is, then what?”

“I’ll decide when the time comes.” She didn’t know what she’d do. Turn him over to whichever fae he belonged to? Would they eliminate him for being a fae killer?

***

Micala had only one thing in mind when he saw Cassie struggling with the guy in the front seat of his black pickup truck. To rescue her.

Micala seized Cassie’s arm before the runt of the teen hiding in the back seat behind her could come around the back passenger door and clamp an iron manacle on him. Another kid had been sitting on the other side of the truck in the back seat, hidden, but he’d never reach Micala in time. The driver had remained in place, holding onto Cassie’s other arm.

Without another thought other than breaking the grip of the one boy’s hand on Cassie’s arm and getting her out of there, Micala transported her to South Padre Island in south Texas, playground of the dark fae. He had been reluctant to take her to his world—and face the repercussions they both would have to as soon as his people caught them together. His aunt, Queen Irenis, had said that none of her people—which doubly meant none of her close family—would ever take a human for a mate.

Cassie would be safe enough here, except for one problem—how to explain how some invisible force moved her from her home to South Padre Island through a tunnel of darkness in the fae way? And that he was one of the members of the royal house of the Denkar? The lion fae, aka the dark fae.

He’d taken her to one of the more remote beaches so that she could appear on the white sand out of thin air without anyone seeing her, and he could materialize before her in the same way. Then he would stop her screaming. Though when he reconsidered that notion he thought she might scream even harder as soon as he appeared. So he moved behind her first.

***

Cassie was not a screamer! She didn’t scream at football games or on rollercoaster rides or at scary horror movies. Not that rollercoaster rides and scary movies didn’t make her want to. But she just controlled the urge.
Always.
So she didn’t even realize that was
her
screaming at the top of her lungs for a second or two. First, she had been furious with Wayne Reynolds because she had thanked him for dropping her off at her house in his brand new black pickup truck, but then he grabbed her arm and wouldn’t let go of her. She didn’t know what his problem had been.

He kept ranting about how she was in danger from the faery folk, that one was sitting on her front porch swing—when there wasn’t a soul there—and she wondered if he’d been high on something. Though she didn’t think he was using anything.

After that, he began yelling as if he was going into hysterics that the fae was coming for her.

She nearly had a heart attack when her door was yanked open, and there was nobody there! Jimmie Dougan had thrown open the back door, and she hadn’t even known he was in the truck—hiding! And she hadn’t realized that Max Callahan was hiding in the back seat on the other side!

What felt like a man’s hand had grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the truck so fast, she hadn’t had time to even see who it was. She’d fallen into a black void—although something had wrapped around her in a comforting embrace—which considering she hadn’t known what was happening, she hadn’t felt comforted in the least.

That’s when she heard the screaming.

And realized the screaming was coming from her.

Now she was standing on a beach at five in the evening, the salty air and wind whipping about her, white sand sweeping over her sandaled feet, her hair blowing across her face in a massive brown silky screen, seagulls singing out high above, and the water rushing up across the beach in a perpetual whoosh. It looked like South Padre Island where she used to go with Alicia, and still managed to sneak off to spend time here with Micala when she could.

She was alone on the beach, not a soul in sight. How in the world had she gotten here?

Then she heard a deep male voice behind her, startling her. She let out a squeak.

“Cassie, it’s okay. You’re okay. You’re with me.”

Micala?
Whipping around, she stared at Micala, his dark brown eyes on hers, concerned, but loving, too.

Her head began to swim, and she knew she was about to collapse—when she was not prone to fainting, either! Micala’s arms were suddenly around her, and he was kissing her, his mouth firm and warm and real.

She had to be caught up in a dream. First, it had been a nightmare. Now it was the good part of the dream.

She kissed him back, hugging him tightly.

He finally broke free from the kiss. “I’m sorry, Cassie.” He looked down at her with such a woeful expression, she wanted to silence his words with another kiss. And tried to, but he shook his head. “We have to talk.”

She didn’t like this part of the dream. He was going to tell her something bad. He was going to say he was seeing someone else, that he no longer wished to see her. But it was her dream, and she wouldn’t let him turn it back into a nightmare.

She tried to kiss him again, but this time he smiled at her. She paused. He didn’t look like he wanted to end things with her.

“Cassie,” he said, turning serious again, still holding her close, “I’ve…I’ve put you in danger. I shouldn’t have. I don’t know what to do. Whatever I do will cause us problems.”

Us.
As if they were still together, and he had no intention of letting her go. She stared at him, then glanced around the beach. This was real. All too real. Her gaze met his.

“That idiot who had hold of you and wouldn’t let you go in the truck?” he asked.

Her mouth dropped. Ohmigod, how could Micala know about that? He was here on the beach when she just…appeared.

But it was just a dream. Wasn’t it?

“Wayne,” she whispered, remembering how much he’d bruised her arm when he wouldn’t let her go.

“He said one of the faery folk was coming to get you.”

Her heart was pumping way too fast.

“I’m one of the Denkar fae.”

She just stared up at Micala. She didn’t believe in any of this. It was the dream. Dreams didn’t make any sense. “So when I see you the next time, I’ll mention how you told me in a dream that you were one of the fae, and you’ll laugh. Right?”

He continued on as if she hadn’t spoken. “Brett, Bryan, and Mark took Alicia hostage, Cassie. They meant to kill her.”

Cassie thought back to Alicia’s saying to her friends that she’d join them for lunch, then never arrived. Then her cousin came to the school looking for her. Which was why Cassie was rehashing all of this in a dream, coming up with the reason she hadn’t seen Alicia.

Bryan hadn’t been in class today. But she didn’t know anyone by the name of Mark or Brett. At least Bryan’s absence added to the dream nicely. Well, nightmare again now.

“Is Alicia all right?” she asked, because she wanted to hear something good.

Micala was studying her, reading her, as if trying to figure her out.

“She’s all right, right?” Cassie insisted. Her friend had to be. Even in a dream, she wanted her to be.

“She’s safe with Deveron. But you’re not safe. They—the fae seers—wanted to use you as bait to catch me. Maybe Alicia, too, if she came back to see you.”

“She’s one of the fae?” Cassie smiled at that. She’d known her since they were little. No way was Alicia a faery.

“She’s of the dragon fae, princess, to be queen someday.”

Cassie grinned even broader. “Hey, if your best friend turns out to be a faery, might as well be an important one. My friends said she was wearing a beautiful green velvet gown, nothing like they come up with in drama class. Something that looked like it was made of the most exquisite of materials and gems and cost a fortune. So, that’s part of her princess wardrobe?”

Micala said nothing.

“But she’s safe. Right?”

She still remembered Ena’s words. She was looking for her. She said she’d had the wrong day, but Cassie didn’t believe her. Ena had been worried about her.

Cassie tried to shove the concern from her thoughts. Just like when she was having a disagreeable dream and half asleep and half awake. She could change the dream somewhat then. “If Alicia is a fae, then what is Deveron?” She couldn’t help smiling.

Micala looked worried still, like he realized he wasn’t making a believer out of her. He had
that
right.

He
was
different. More mature than the guys she’d known. More…well, otherworldly. Like he’d visited other places, traveled a lot, and shared his trip experiences with her. She’d been fascinated, wishing she could go with him in the future.

Most of all, he’d always treated her as if he treasured her—her company, what she had to say, just being with her, not saying anything, just enjoying a sunset together, or watching the sun rise. Seeing a full moon on a pitch black night, or an orange crescent moon on another that hung so low it nearly touched the earth. Or making a mess of themselves as they played in the surf and created castles in the sand.

“Deveron is of the Denkar. The lion fae. He is the crown prince,” Micala said quietly, his hand stroking her back, tenderly, lovingly.

“Wow. All these years and Alicia never said anything to me about it.” Cassie should have played more into the whole dream thing, but she was too cynical for that. She loved reading romances—contemporary stuff. She wasn’t into fantasy. No fairytale princess and prince stories. No vampires. No werewolves. No immortal fae.

“She didn’t know that she was one of us, Cassie. I can’t take you to the fae kingdom, or I fear you’ll come to harm there.”