To Wed A Dragon: BBW Dragon Shifter Paranormal Romance (Weredragon Warriors Book 2) (4 page)

She kept that tiny nugget of
incredulous information to herself. Otherwise, she told them the
truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

The two police officers
looked at her sympathetically and exchanged a glance. Nora winced
and ground her teeth. She had run out to the main road and flagged
down the first car she saw. As luck would have it, that car happened
to be a police car. She'd blurted out her story to the two officers
and led them back here to the scene of the crime.

“M'am,” one of
the officers began. He sported a mustache, a pot-belly and a
receding hairline. “There's nothing here. There's no evidence
at all that a fight or an attack has just happened here. There's no
blood and...no body.”

“I saw him go down,”
Nora said vehemently. She squinted at the name on his uniform.
“Officer Smith, I'm not lying. Why would I incriminate myself?
I killed a man! I did what I had to do, to save the old lady!”

“Y-you killed a man?”
the younger officer stammered.

“I...don't know. It
wasn't a man.” Nora took a deep breath. Oh, what the heck.
“It was more of a snake.”

“A snake.”
Officer Smith's bushy brows shot up. “You killed a snake with
your bare hands, Miss Garcia?”

“With a broken bottle,”
Nora said through clenched teeth. “Look, I'm telling you what
happened here. Two...males were attacking an elderly lady. They
were going to kill her in that alley. They would have killed me too,
but I managed to stab one of them in the neck and run out. Then when
I was trying to get away from that s—” She swallowed and
amended quickly, “...that shit, another guy came and they
started fighting. I escaped. So did the old lady.”

“The old lady escaped?”
Officer Smith sucked in a breath. He started chewing his lip
nervously under his mustache.

Odd, Nora thought as she eyed
the cop suspiciously. Officer Smith looked kinda worried and
troubled by the news. Shouldn't he be relieved instead? An innocent
old lady had gotten away. That was good. But from the look on his
face, Officer Smith obviously didn't think so.

The night couldn't get any
more freakish.

Oh, but she was wrong.

“Good evening,
officers,” a deep, commanding male voice boomed behind them.

Nora recognized the voice
immediately. She spun round and saw that handsome, silver-eyed Damn
Slayor.

But up close, he was even
more handsome. He was downright gorgeous. He was very tall, head
and shoulders above the two officers, and he had broad, powerful
shoulders and sharp, chiseled features.

Despite his height and his
brawny physique, his grin was boyish and a little shy. Nora thought
he was in his early thirties at most. But that was before she looked
into his eyes. The man looked young, but his eyes told a different
story. His eyes were shrewd and wary, and he noticed everything with
one glance. Those were eyes that saw beneath the mere surface and
appearance of things, eyes that had seen too much violence and
destruction.

And those eyes weren't silver
any more.

His eyes were a mesmerizing
shade of lilac. When he smiled at her, she caught tiny flecks of
silver winking from the depths of his stunning, lilac eyes.

“You!” she
squawked. “Officers, it's him! He's the one. He fought the
snake!”

Rounding on him, she snarled,
“Tell 'em! Tell them what you saw, what you fought. Tell
these police officers about that goddamn snake, that Damn Slayor!”

CHAPTER
TEN

“I don't know about
snakes M'am,” Edriq answered, trying to look as innocent and
innocuous as possible. “But I thought I heard some noise when
I passed this street earlier.”

“Noise! It was more
than just noise. You…!” The woman gaped at him. Then
her eyes narrowed and he could hear her knuckles cracking as she
balled her fists. The woman wasn't stupid. She knew what he was
doing right away.

He was trying to poke holes
in her story. She looked really pretty when she was angry, but Edriq
was careful to take a step back. He didn't want to get socked in the
jaw.

“You were here
earlier?” the younger officer asked. “What is your name,
sir?”

“Edriq Haeken. I was
taking a walk round the block and I passed this street.” It
was the truth. He just didn't tell them the reason for his walk.

“According to Miss
Garcia, a crime took place right here. Did you hear or see anything
unusual, sir?”

“Hmm.” Edriq
cocked his head. “I might have...”

The younger officer
immediately whipped out his notepad.

“I think I might have
seen some large—rats,” Edriq said in all seriousness. He
planted his hands on his hips and went on indignantly, “It's a
disgrace. Having rats running willy-nilly all over the place. Some
of them are this huge!” He placed his hands about two feet
apart to indicate just how monstrous these rodents were.

“And they had tails
this long!” He spread his arms wide and shuddered. “Those
rats could kill someone, you know.” Edriq huffed and glowered
at the officers. “So what are you going to do about it?”

“Us?” Officer
Smith looked flabbergasted.

“Yes. You. You're the
police. It's your job to take care of our problems. And we have a
huge rat problem, officers.”

Edriq glanced at the lovely
Miss Garcia. She wasn't looking at him. “I don't know why
you're doing this,” she mumbled.

Squaring her shoulders, she
pushed Edriq out of her way and marched up to the two cops.

“Officers,” she
began. “I am very sure I saw...”

“A snake,”
Officer Smith deadpanned. “You killed a snake. Or was it a
rat—with a long, snake-like tail?”

“I showed you the
alley...”

“And there was nothing,
Miss Garcia,” Officer Smith finished impatiently. “We
went into the alley with you and we saw no body, no blood, no broken
bottle. Just a dumpster, and there's nothing in the dumpster either.
We checked, at your request,” he said pointedly, wrinkling his
nose.

She shook her head slowly.
“You don't believe me,” she said in an angry whisper.

“M'am, you can come
down to the station and make a statement, if you want,” the
young officer said gently.

She shrugged. “What's
the point? You're not going to do anything. There's no one to
arrest, no leads to follow, no evidence to collect...there's nothing
to do.” Her eyes widened suddenly. “The old lady,”
she said. “Can you check on her? That's the least you can do.
Make sure she's safe.”

“What old lady?”
Officer Smith gulped.

“Do you know where she
lives, Miss Garcia?”

Her shoulders slumped. “No,”
she sighed.

“Is there anything else
we can do for you, M'am?”

“I don't think so,”
she said unhappily.

Edriq nodded as the officers
tipped their hats at them and walked away.

Once they were left alone,
she whirled round to face him. “Why. Why did you lie to the
cops.”

Edriq took a sharp breath.
What could he tell her?

“Who are you, Edriq
Haeken. What are you. And what did you kill,” she snapped,
biting off each word.

Edriq gazed at her for a long
while, resisting the urge to touch her, to smooth her matted hair
away from her flushed, scowling face and tell her that everything was
okay and she was safe. But he didn't want to lie to her. He would
never lie to this woman. Ever.

Beneath her anger, he saw her
fear and confusion. “What's your name?” Edriq asked
softly.

“Huh?” She
blinked, completely taken aback.

“You know my name.
It's only fair that I know yours.”

She narrowed those
perceptive, steely brown eyes at him. “If I tell you my name,
will you answer my questions?”

“Yes.”

“Nora. My name is Nora
Garcia,” she said, looking him straight in the eye. “Now.
Answer the questions, Damn Slayor.”

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

“There's a Blazing
Beans outlet across the street that's open twenty-four hours,”
Edriq said. “We'll talk there. I don't want you standing in
the cold, in the open, in plain sight of those damn Slayors.”

Nora opened her mouth. She
wanted answers now. Right now. Right here. She wasn't going to
have her head messed with, again. Tonight had been too weird.
Unfortunately, in the presence of this very hot, handsome and
strangely protective man, her head seemed to have taken a much needed
vacation. And with her brain temporarily out of the picture, her
raging hormones had gleefully jumped into the driver's seat.

Nora swallowed. “I...”

“And I'm not a Damn
Slayor. I'm not a cold-blooded, murderous snake.” His voice
was flat but she detected a quick flash of anger and contempt in his
eyes.

Those Damn Slayors were vile,
contemptible creatures. She knew that already. They had been trying
to kill a sweet, little old lady. What kind of sick fucks were they?

“So what are you?”
Nora scowled. To her astonishment, Edriq smiled and nonchalantly
took her hand. Gently he tucked it into the crook of his arm and
strolled across the road.

They entered the Blazing
Beans coffee shop and several of the staff greeted Edriq. Edriq
grinned and exchanged some friendly banter as he walked her to a
corner booth.

“You're like a VIP
here. Come here often?” Nora asked as she slid into the small,
cozy booth.

“Not that often,”
Edriq replied with a lopsided smile. After a pause, he said, “My
brother, Zul, is the Managing Director of Blazing Beans.”

Nora's brows lifted. “Your
brother...”

Edriq shrugged. “Zul's
not related to me by blood. But he's my blood brother. Know what I
mean?”

She nodded and cast him a
sidelong glance. Blazing Beans was a very successful coffee chain.
They had outlets all over the city. If his brother was the Managing
Director, then Edriq probably held some high managerial position in
the Blazing Beans corporate hierarchy. No wonder he knew all the
staff here. He had the bearing of someone in authority, a leader and
a fighter. She bet he was a formidable opponent in the boardroom.
He could be the CFO, CIO or COO. Or maybe even the CEO.

Nora huffed. She wasn't
going to be sidetracked. It didn't matter if he was a high-flying,
mega-successful business person and how many letters he had before or
after his name. Edriq Haeken had lied to the cops. People who lied
to the cops usually had something to hide.

“I'll get us some
coffee. What would you like?” Edriq asked smoothly.

“Blazing Black. No
sugar,” Nora answered without thinking. She always picked up
two Blazing Blacks on her way to work. One for her, one for Mario.
Mario would bring cupcakes and muffins, freshly baked by his fiancee,
Julia. They would always have a quick bite and just relax with each
other before their shift started.

Edriq grinned, recognizing a
Blazing Beans fan. “Excellent choice.” He slid out of
the booth and headed to the counter. “Be right back.”

Nora was turning her hands
over in front of her when Edriq came back with the coffee.

“The blood,” she
muttered. “All gone. Blood doesn't evaporate. I should
know.”

Edriq pushed the large cup of
aromatic black coffee in front of her. She wrapped her hands around
the cup and stared at the pitch black brew, a muscle working in her
jaw.

“Black,” she said
at last. She snapped her eyes up. “Those Damn Slayors had
black blood. They're not...human.”

Edriq nodded slowly and
stirred his coffee.

Nora tuned out all the noise
and movement in the cafe. She watched the man sitting opposite her
intently, searching his handsome, deceptively human features. His
hands were large and calloused, and she glimpsed holsters under his
leather jacket. His intense, silver-flecked lilac eyes held her gaze
unwaveringly.

Holding her breath, Nora
leaned forward and said, “Neither are you, Edriq Haeken.”

CHAPTER
TWELVE

Edriq saw the challenge in
Nora's eyes. She was daring him to deny it, deny the truth and lie
to her face. The same way he had so effortlessly lied to those human
cops.

“You're right, Nora,”
he answered. “I'm a Dracan.”

She continued eyeing him
until she was satisfied that he had spoken the truth. She continued
leaning forward. She wasn't afraid of him.

Edriq hid a smile. He liked
that. Very much.

He wanted her to come closer,
a lot closer.

Her brows creased. “Dracan,”
she began slowly. “Is that your religion, race or...”

“That is what I am,”
Edriq replied. “I came to Earth from Draca, many, many years
ago. Almost seven human decades ago in fact. Draca is one of the
continents on the planet Korra. The other continent is Syndor. Most
of the Syndorians are drafted into the Syndor army at a young age.
The soldiers of the Syndor army are called Slayors. Or Damn Slayors,
if you will.”