Prologue
Chronicles of the Egregoroi
Page Eight Hundred and Fifty-two
In all the myths and legends of the world exists a grain of truth. At the dawning of the gods’ newest creation, the goddess, Gwendolyn, took into consideration how easily she and her kin were distracted by new worlds, and their own petty games. When creating the humans of the Earth realm, Gwendolyn remembered the failings of the gods, and sent a guardian race of shapeshifter dragons to guide and protect her precious humans. These guardians gave birth to the whispered stories and legends of dragons.
Majestic and powerful, these noble creatures protected ancient man at the behest of the goddess who dearly loved the humans. While solitary beasts by nature, the dragons taught men the art of fire, of weapons , and of sacred magical workings. They gave the humans civility, and taught them how to live in peace with the world around them. Under their guidance and protection, humans flourished.
In the beginning, Gwendolyn walked with both human and dragon, assuring the children of her heart upheld the ideals she wished she could instill in her brethren.
But the gods clashed. Their games grew brutal. Gwendolyn found herself caught up in the non-stop battles, and left the leadership of dragons and humans alike in the hands of the great dragon lords.
What she did not foresee, and what she could not know, was how the absolute power she’d given to her favorite dragon would be corrupted. In the absence of the goddess, the dragon
Alexi took it upon himself to rule all dragons and humans. He grew drunk with the added power. With each conquest, he demanded more humans bow to him, to worship him the way they once revered Gwendolyn. Other dragons saw the power Alexi amassed by the day, and they wanted it for themselves.
One by one, the great dragon lords fell to the corruption of their power. The once boundless peace across all the lands was broken. Shadow covered the world. Darkness and fear crept in. The dragons turned from majestic to terrible, but the humans still had hope. Those dragons still yet unspoiled by greed and lust reminded the humans of the goddess who cared for them. In secret, those dragons urged the peoples of Earth to raise their voices together, and ask the great goddess to help them.
The goddess heard their plea. With the attention of the other gods on their own selfish games, she was not strong enough to bring so many powerful dragons to heel. Her only recourse was to give an elite group of humans the power and size and immortality to bring down the dragons decimating their fellow man. The Hunters came into being. Each one had the strength to track and slay a dragon. And at first, the plan succeeded.
The Hunters and dragons, who still walked in the path of lightness, worked together to bring down those who had allowed their power to corrupt them.
But Gwendolyn had not learned from her mistakes. The Hunters took it upon themselves to decide which dragons did or did not deserve extermination. The infractions to warrant a death sentence grew slighter. Soon, all dragons were marked for death, even the ones who had risked their lives to aid the Hunters.
Those dragons still loyal to Gwendolyn, still bound to protecting her once-beloved humans, once again turned to the power of human prayer to aid them. The humans rallied behind their dragon guardians, but this time, the goddess did not answer.
Betrayed and hunted, the dragons took to the shadows. Why Gwendolyn abandoned them, no one knows. Some say she grew tired of her creation. Others believed a more malevolent cause prevented her from saving them. is left alive who seeks the truth, who believes Gwendolyn would never abandon those who needed her. Waiting, knowing he will need to once again align dragon and Hunters against a threat more terrible than anything yet seen on Earth.
For darkness always comes before the dawn.
Chapter 1
“In entertainment news, Shelby Kincade is expected to make her first public appearance tonight at the premiere for her new romantic comedy, Love Games. It’s been almost a year since the night that still baffles police, when were found torn apart and bloody inside the A - list star’s bedroom…”
A low catcall came from the end of the bar, droning out the rest of the talking head’s voice.
“Look at her.” A man whistled. Shelby Kincade’s face filled the flat-screen television set high on the wall above the dozens of bottles of alcohol.
“I’d rather not.” Daniel Ashborne downed the beer he’d been nursing for the last hour.
Just her name made him want to get plastered. “Can you turn this shit off?” he asked.
The brawny bartender braced his stocky arms across his chest. “Fuck off. I’m watching this.” He grabbed the remote, cranking the volume as he turned his full attention back to the television. “I like Shelby.”
“Of course you do,” Daniel drawled as he got to his feet, scooping his change off the bar.
He dragged a hand over his face. So much for a biker bar being a nice, quiet place to get drunk. The task didn’t require all of his attention, but there was no way in hell he was looking at the television screen. He knew from experience the second he let his focus waver, he’d get , be it on the television or in a magazine or newspaper. No matter how toxic it was, she was an addiction he didn’t know how to kick.
It didn’t surprise him to see her face splattered all over the night’s news. It was why he’d decided to get sloppy drunk. After a year the Hollywood spotlight, the woman still demanded attention. And she got it in spades.
“Isn’t she the
pertiest
thang you’ve ever seen?” the biker asked, his gaze riveted to the television.
Daniel made the mistake of glancing up. She stared back at him through dark sunglasses, pale blonde waves framing a perfect, flawless face. He knew the photograph was taken soon after his last encounter with her. He knew it because her smile, the beautiful, radiant smile of hers that made everyone near her want to smile, too, strained around the edges. Too forced to be real.
He snorted on his way to the door. “Don’t let her fool you,” he murmured as he passed the biker. “She’s a shark. She’d eat you alive.”
The biker’s grin went hungry. “Hey, she can eat any part of me she wants. Fuck, I’d give my left nut for five minutes with that mouth--”
Daniel’s fist shot out before realized he’d moved, slamming into the guy’s jaw. The power behind the punch sent the bastard flying backward into the pool table.
“What the fuck!” the idiot roared, too ignorant to realize he was only alive because Daniel allowed him to be. Bracing a hand against the table next to him, the biker managed to get his considerable weight back to his feet.
Though the biker was six foot of pure brawn, Daniel was eight inches taller and outweighed him by nearly a hundred pounds of muscle. He could tear the man apart by the limbs if he wanted to, even without his alter ego making an appearance. He didn’t need to unleash the beast tonight.
Daniel took a step closer to the burly human. Maybe a fight was what he needed to take the edge off. He needed his head in the game where it belonged, not on the woman who’d caused him nothing but grief for the last year. “Let’s do this.”
The idiot came barreling at him like a freight train, hooking Daniel around the waist and carrying him backward into the wall behind him. The biker bared his teeth as his fist shot out aiming for Daniel’s stomach, but Daniel’s reflexes were quicker. He grabbed him by the shoulders, slamming his head into the man’s nose. Blood exploded everywhere. Daniel stepped back, snorting as the biker let out a high-pitched, girly wail before scrambling to his feet again, a switchblade gripped in one meaty fist.
Around him, the other bikers left their tables and drinks, forming a loose, threatening circle around Daniel. As he rolled his shoulders, preparing to do some real damage, the sound of a shotgun slide being racked into place echoed through the suddenly silent bar.
Unease prickled along Daniel’s spine. He raised his head slowly to see the bartender braced behind the bar, the shotgun resting on the counter. “Keep it down,” the man snarled. “I’m trying to watch this.”
Well fuck. Even her face on television brought out every lunatic in the area.
The woman really was nothing but trouble.
“You have two seconds to take it out the door.” The bartender sneered, turning his attention back to the television. Grabbing the remote, he cranked the volume. “I will shoot someone if I miss seeing Shelby.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Daniel muttered, subtly shifting his body to take in the danger surrounding him. He counted six men with various weapons, none of which worried him. The bartender with the shotgun, though, he could be a problem. Not even Daniel could withstand a blast from it at pointblank range. Even with normal ammunition, he had no doubt the idiot would use it if he felt provoked. Shelby had that affect on men. A smile from her brought out every protective instinct a man possessed, triggering a homicidal rage if anyone dared to threaten her.
Trying to use the distraction against him, the first of the gang rushed Daniel from behind. Daniel spun at the last second, using the biker’s forward momentum to his own advantage. He snapped the wrist holding the switchblade and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the ground until his feet dangled in the air. With a flick of his wrist, he sent him barreling into idiots two and three. Number four tried to get a knife past his defenses as Daniel unarmed the two with guns, but Daniel was quicker.
He moved with inhuman speed. He grabbed the fucker’s head and shifted, driving the man into the wood of the pool table.
As Daniel stepped back, the bartender’s voice boomed out. “Leave the weapons. I’ll clean ‘em up with the rest of the garbage.” Daniel turned around slowly, and saw the big man shrug. “It’s not a Friday night around here if I’m not tossing out an unconscious body or two, though I have to say you’re the first to take on six of this particular gang and not leave on a stretcher.”
Daniel let out a snort as he headed for the door.
He didn’t bother to until he’d hoisted a leg over his Ducati at the back of the deserted parking lot. Wounds never bothered him, but with Shelby’s face all over the fucking news tonight, at least the pain would be a distraction. The slash wasn’t anything he couldn’t heal on his own, but his heart felt like it was on fire, and panic was starting to seep into his brain.
Brushing the fear off, he stopped to buy several bottles of hard alcohol. If the pain failed, he’d drink himself comatose.
He dug his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans when it chirped, snapping it open without bothering to see who was calling. Of the five people who had his number, his was the only one who ever used it. “Yeah.”
“Daniel. You need to get to the hospital right now.”
He pulled the phone away from his ear, scowled at it for a moment, before he glanced down at the wound. “Seren, it’s not that bad.”
The hellion of an ER doctor let out a growl. “How would you know?” she yelled. “I’m the one who’s been trying to save her life for the last ten minutes.”
Daniel went still. The fire in his heart intensified, leaving him gasping. If he didn’t know any better, he’d swear he was having a heart attack. “What?” He snarled, hoping he was imagining things. “Who?”
“Who?” she asked. “Your mate, you idiot. Someone shot her. So whatever the hell is going on with you, forget it and get your ass here. Now--before she dies on my table.”
“My what?” He roared. “Seren, what the hell are you talking about?”
After a full minute of silence that grated on Daniel’s every nerve, the woman finally spoke again, the fury in her voice turned to utter confusion. “Wait. You really don’t know what I’m talking about?” she asked.
“No,” he snapped, not in the mood for shit. “I don’t, and I don’t care. Now if you don’t mind, I have plans with a couple bottles of vodka.”
“Daniel!” She shouted his name before he could hang up on her. “I have no more idea of what is going on than you do, but you need to get your ass here, or I’m sending Cage after you. Whoever this girl is, it’s not good. I am warning you, if she dies on my watch I will cut your heart out myself and feed it to Adrian for breakfast.”
The line went dead. He had no idea what the hell the woman was talking about, but as the pain over his chest intensified, he started his bike and roared out into traffic.
* * * *
Daniel didn’t bother with the parking lot as he pulled into the hospital emergency bay ten minutes later. He still didn’t know what he was doing there. For fuck’s sake, he’d know if he had a mate. It couldn’t happen without his express participation. He was always sober and coherent during sex. Because he knew the rules, he’d made sure never to sleep with the same woman more than once, just in case. Even with Shelby, the only time he’d broken his own rule, it had only been twice, one short of the needed three for a mating.
He’d barely made it in through the automatic doors before Dr. Seren Cage stepped into his path. She glared up at him--all the way up at him.
“Thank the gods,” she muttered as she grabbed his hand and started walking, leaving him no choice but to follow her if he didn’t want to yank her arm out of its socket. “I have no idea what is happening, but I know it’s your mark.”
At four-foot-eleven and a hundred and ten pounds of pregnant, heartbreaking beauty, Seren wasn’t anyone’s version of a hard-core emergency room doctor, but people only made the mistake of underestimating her once. What she lacked in physical size, she more than made up for in attitude and ability.
“Okay, whatever prank you’re pulling on me, it’s not funny, Seren. I don’t have a fucking mate, and it’s the only way a woman would have my mark.” He knew Seren worried about his isolated lifestyle, but this wasn’t funny. He raked a hand through his hair. “I think I’d know.”
She shook her head, appearing as confused as he felt. “Come on. We can figure this out after we save her life.”
As she led Daniel through the ER bay, it wasn’t Seren or the mystery woman that worried him. It was the massive male leaning against the window next to one of the secure rooms, his scarred face furious and deadly as he watched them approach.
“What the hell is your husband doing here?” Daniel demanded, as the odd pain in his heart started to intensify. He raised his fist to rub at it again.
Seren noticed the action with a cant of her head, her face softening. “Your mate was shot, and she needs your energy to fight. It will leave both of you vulnerable, and no one will get past Cage.” She grabbed the clipboard from the box next to her husband
,
while bumping the door open with her hip. “Now come on, we’re wasting time.”
As Daniel followed her into the room, he was sure Seren had lost her mind, until he saw Shelby lying on the bed. His heart simply failed. Pain that had nothing to do with his chest wound tore through him, and his body started to shake violently.
Her shoulder was a mangled mess. Her face was pale beneath the ventilator, her body too still to be the vibrant she-devil he remembered.
“What the hell happened to her?” He roared. “Why are you just standing there? Goddamn
it, Seren, fix her!”
Seren’s voice softened as she put her pregnant body in front of his. “I can’t. I’ve done everything I can. Only her mate can save her now.”
Daniel swallowed hard as the pain in his heart threatened to split his chest open. “I’m not her mate, goddamn it.” His hand shook as he shoved it through his hair. “It’s not me.”
Seren turned to her husband. Adrian simply nodded, putting his massive body in the doorway, blocking Daniel from leaving.
“Take your shirt off,” she ordered. Instead of giving Daniel time to obey, she simply laid her clipboard on the bed and moved in, yanking at his jacket. When she saw the gaping wound in his chest, she inhaled a sharp breath. She didn’t hesitate. She shoved his black Henley shirt up and moved in closer, poking around the inch-deep gouge.
“Oh, Daniel, why do you do this to yourself?” she asked as she stepped back.
He kept his mouth closed because he didn’t have an answer for her. At least not one he felt like sharing. He’d been trying to escape thoughts of Shelby for a year, and yet his only option some nights was a fight. The physical pain was much easier to bear than the mental.
Her touch was gentler as she pulled the sheet covering Shelby down, exposing the telltale marking over the swell of her left breast.
Daniel staggered back a step as he felt his entire existence shift beneath his feet. Ryuu, what had he done?
“Okay, good,” Seren breathed. “Now I need you to help me fix her.”
Chapter 2
It wasn’t possible. It wasn’t. Yet the proof was real. It was his mark over Shelby’s heart, identical to the one over his own. Unique to him. Every dragon was born with one. It was, quite literally, what marked a mate as taken. When a dragon mated, their mark transferred to their chosen other half.
Directly above his mark on Shelby’s breast was a mangled mess where the bullet had torn through delicate flesh.
“Alright.” He clenched his hands into fists to stop them from trembling as he moved in closer to the bed. “What do I have to do?”
Seren was already moving. “She needs your energy. She doesn’t have enough on her own right now. Without it, she doesn’t have the strength to fight as I heal her.” She pointed to the chair next to Shelby’s hip. “Sit and grab her hand.”
He obeyed without thinking, taking Shelby’s fragile hand into his.
Seren glanced at her husband. “You know what to do.”
“Don’t worry, wife.” Adrian Cage moved in front of the door and crossed his arms over his chest. “No one’s getting in.”
Daniel barely heard them. “What happened to her?” he asked finally, his voice hoarse to his own ears.
“She was shot exiting her car at the premiere.” Seren moved to the other side of the bed. “My ’s in town this week. As soon as I saw your mark on her, I sent him to see what he could find out.”
“I want to know as soon as he gets back.” He didn’t bother to ask which brother. She had two, Luca and Micah, but Micah was so deep in the Chicago underworld he wasn’t safe to be around dragon or human population, while Luca had been fighting side by side with Daniel for centuries.
As she gently placed her hands over Shelby’s abdomen, Seren’s focus sharpened on
Daniel. “I need you to concentrate. She needs everything you have if she’s going to survive this. She’s lost more blood than any human can withstand. If you hadn’t mated to her and c she’d have bled out already.” Her face softened, and Daniel was dimly aware of her voice going sharper. Like she was trying to channel his energy on Shelby before he internally combusted, which is exactly what he felt crawling up the base of his spine. The need to explode. “Focus on her, Daniel. Use your emotion and determination. Remember why you mated with her in the first place.”
His gaze snapped to hers. Her voice and demeanor had turned steely. “It doesn’t matter how it happened, or why. You mated with her. It meant something when it happened. I need you to use that emotion now.”
He tried. He closed his eyes to block out all the bad memories. She’d been amazing, he thought, until he’d come down from his sexual high to find the hired gun she’d sent to kill him.
“No.” Daniel’s head came up at the sharpness in Seren’s voice. Sweat beaded on her brow. She was chanting frantically as scaused by the bullet’s concussion. “I’m losing her. Goddamn it, Daniel! I need you to try harder.”
He let out a low sound of frustration. This time, he forced everything else out but the good as he concentrated on pushing his energy into her.
He went back to that night in his head. She’d been so beautiful when he’d picked her up.
Halfway through the date, he’d realized how much he goddamned liked her.
She’d been easy to talk to despite their differences. Which said a lot. He never found talking to anyone easy.
But Shelby...Daniel struggled to open his eyes against the severe energy drain. Her small body was impossibly still, all of the compacted energy that had fascinated him gone, replaced with the steady whoosh of the ventilator that kept her breathing. She’d charmed him when he’d been positive it wasn’t possible for him to be charmed, and against all common sense, every time she’d smiled, he’d felt his world swing right.
Part of him had expected her to want to hit the main paparazzi zones in LA for some free publicity, but instead they’d ended at a small bistro barely big enough for the ten couples there. She’d been gracious when people recognized her, and though he’d felt out of his depth and like an uncoordinated giant, she’d been genuinely interested in him. Despite more than two millennia of not talking unless necessity dictated, she always drew him into conversation.
“You’re doing great,” Seren murmured. “Her body’s slowly responding.” She glanced at him for the barest of seconds. “How did you meet her?”
“I was hired to head up security on one of her movies.”
“The king of dragons ? Doing security?”
“Yes. ”
Seren smiled the slightest bit, though her focus never wavered from Shelby. “Talkative as ever, aren’t you. Come on, Daniel. I’ve known you a very long time and we both know Shelby is not your type. I can’t think of anything you’d hate more than the possibility of being in the spotlight.”
“I like her,” he shrugged, before he amended with a growl, “liked her, anyway. But it was almost a year ago.”
“What happened?”
His lip lifted in a sneer. “Is it important?”
Her gaze lifted in a dead-on imitation of her husband’s irritated scowl. “Yes,” she said slowly, studying him as if searching for a head injury. “It is. Start talking.”
He considered ignoring her. It wasn’t any of her business. But he sighed and shrugged again. “She tried to have me killed.”
Adrian snorted from his post at the door. “Imagine that.”
A violent snarl rumbled through Daniel, his sluggish body going stiff. “Watch it,
Hunter.”
“Hush.” Everything about Seren went still as she sighed at her husband
,
before she went back to repairing the damage done to Shelby. “You’re sure she was behind it?” she asked Daniel quietly.
It was his turn to snort. His head felt fuzzy as he continued to feed Shelby his energy, but he had no desire to relive that night. “Seeing as her house is as secure as Fort Knox and we were in her bedroom at the time, my guess is yeah. I’m sure it was her.”
Seren winced a little as her hands stilled. “You’re not kidding,” she murmured. “She set you up?”
Daniel didn’t take offense. Shelby Kincade was the most famous woman in the world, had a reputation of being sweet and caring. Whereas Daniel had a history of pissing people off to the point of them actively trying to kill him.
“Yeah.” Though he wouldn’t admit it even if Cage was threatening to pull his heart out, it was driving him fucking insane seeing her lying there so still. “I didn’t know she was my mate at the time.”
Seren hesitated for a long moment, before she finally blurted out, “Why don’t you know she’s your mate? What happened to you tonight? Where were you when I called?”
He snarled. “Why are you acting like I’ve got brain damage? I started a bar fight when some asshole couldn’t keep his mouth shut about Shelby. Since I couldn’t kill anyone, I headed home with plans of doing my
damndest
damnedest
to get shit-faced drunk.” He knew what she was getting at, and it pissed him off. “I didn’t mate to her, Seren. I know the rules. I only fucked her twice.” His gaze shifted unwillingly to Shelby, and he shook his head. “I swear it was only twice,” he whispered as the pain in his chest threatened to explode. He growled against it, a long, dark rumble that reverberated through the trauma room. Almost instantly, the irregular beating of her heart steadied.
“That’s odd,” Seren murmured softly, pulling back to study the monitor.
“What? What’s odd? Is she alright?”
She shook her head, her hand rubbing at her belly as she watched the machines. “For someone who tried to have you killed, she likes your growl. It calms her.”
Daniel dropped his gaze to Shelby’s face. Though he was sure he was imagining it, she did seem more peaceful.
It was his turn to be confused. “Seren, are you sure she’s alright? She’s not going into shock or something? Or, I don’t know, fading out?”
Seren looked as confused as he felt. “She’s your mate. You’re supposed to be able to calm her. It’s why you’re here.”
He swallowed hard, and too fuzzy to piece together what was happening, he repeated the sound like the goddamn purring pansy he was.
Her hand tightened around his.
“Seren--”
“I saw it,” she murmured. “Why don’t you try talking to her? Your voice seems to have the same effect on her as your growl.”
He shook his head, panicking. “Talk to her? What the hell am I supposed to talk to her about?”
A ghost of a smile tugged at Seren’s mouth. “You did say she was easy to talk to before everything, ah, went south.”
“When she’s conscious, damn it, and in case you didn’t hear me the first time, she fucking tried to have me killed. We both know I could have said something to piss her off badly, so why the hell would I want to talk to her?”
Seren winced. “I don’t know, but she’s responding to your voice. You need answers, so talk to her.” Her voice gentled as she concentrated on what she was doing. “She wants to fight. I can feel it in her. So give her reason to, even if you plan on walking away.”
Seren was out of her mind. Daniel was sure of it. He didn’t know if the pregnancy hormones had addled her usually sharp mind or what, but the woman had lost it. But even he had to admit, as he took in every inch of Shelby’s beautiful face, he was having a hard time seeing the cold-blooded woman who’d set him up. This was the woman who’d made him smile against all odds, who had set his very blood on fire until he was sure no matter how many times he had her, he’d never get enough.
His chest constricted painfully. Which shouldn’t have surprised him. If her hired gun couldn’t get to him, why wouldn’t this finish him off?
“You have to save her,” he said hoarsely as he reached out with a shaking hand, brushing a pale curl out of Shelby’s eyes. “People go insane for her smile.”
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Daniel realized how stupid he sounded. Ryuu. It wasn’t enough the woman had tried to have him killed, but she was turning him into a goddamn pussy while she was at it.
His heart, which never got involved in anything or anyone, had picked one hell of a fucked up time to go to war with his head.
He surged to his feet and pointed a finger at Seren. “Just fucking fix her, alright? And stay out of my goddamn head while you’re doing it.”
Concern flashed over her face as Daniel swayed on his feet. In the next instant, Cage was behind him, as if they were worried he was about to fall on his face. He shook his head because it was just an energy drain, but it took him longer to realize, that even though he’d stood, he’d yet to let go of Shelby’s hand.
A low, frustrated sound rumbled through him. “Alright,” he snapped. He sat back down in his chair, tightening his grip around Shelby’s. “How much damage did the bullet do?”
Seren kept her gaze on what she was doing as she drew in a careful breath. “The bullet tore through a major artery just below her shoulder. She was barely alive by the time they got her in here. It was almost as if her body was fighting them, and me.”
“But you can save her.”
Because it was a demand, Seren only nodded once. “Yeah. I think as long as you hang on and keep feeding her your energy, she’ll keep fighting.”
He did. He wasn’t sure how long he sat there. Between watching Shelby and snarling at Seren to hurry the hell up, it felt like forever before the insistent, irregular beeping of the monitors steadied, and Shelby’s breathing evened out.
He didn’t allow himself to relax. Although his head was fuzzy, body exhausted and sluggish, he had enough experience with Shelby to know it was pure stupidity to let his guard down anywhere around her. Even comatose, she had the power to gut him. Not just physically, either.
His lip lifted in a self-mocking snarl as his brain decided to play back that night again. Peace wasn’t something he’d ever felt before. Instead of being wary, he’d let the feeling of tranquility lull him into a false sense of security which had nearly cost him his life.
Seren finally straightened. She looked as exhausted as Daniel felt. “Alright, it’s up to her now.” She tore off her surgical gloves as she moved to check Shelby’s vitals. “I repaired the major damage, but she still needs to rest. She’ll be sore, but it won’t be anything she can’t handle. I’m going to keep her on the ventilator for a while longer to limit the strain on her heart and lungs because she is still technically human, but she should be breathing on her own--”
“I’m not leaving.”
Her face softened when he snapped the words out before she’d even finished speaking. “I don’t want you to. You saved her life. I’m not just talking about transferring your energy to her,
Daniel. Her body started to respond the second your hand touched hers.”
“She tried to have me killed,” he said. “She’s probably pissed to find out I’m still alive.”
Seren snorted out a tired laugh. “You’ll have to take it up with her when she wakes up.” She moved back a couple of steps until she was leaning against her husband, her hands resting against her pregnant belly. She eyed
him
Daniel
up as if she thought he’d grown an extra head. “You mated to her without realizing it.” She blew out a breath. “I was thinking the other day, how long have we known each other?”
Daniel wondered how Cage handled her being off her rocker without going bat-shit crazy himself. “Since I was gutted when Luca and I went up against that warlock a thousand years ago, and he took me to you for healing. What the hell does this have to do with anything?”
She ignored him, asking him another bizarre question instead. “What year is it?”
Daniel turned his attention to Cage. “What the hell is wrong with her? Why doesn’t she know what year it is? Why is she acting like one of us has brain damage?”
Cage’s lip lifted, his body coiling tight, but Seren only shook her head, keeping her focus on Daniel. “I’m worried about you,” she murmured. “I don’t understand how you don’t remember having a mate.”
Daniel dragged a hand over his face. “I don’t know what the fuck happened. I only had sex with her twice. I’m not that stupid.”
“What about oral sex?”
Daniel jerked before he sat hard on the chair, the responsibility and consequences of what he’d done all but smacking him in the face.
Seren’s mouth dropped open. “Wait. You didn’t know it counted?”
Ryuu. Yeah, he’d gone down on her. He hadn’t meant to, but she’d tasted like heaven and he hadn’t been able to stop himself once he’d started. Daniel closed his eyes. “Fucking hell.
You’re kidding.”
“Because this is something I kid about. Though it is kind of funny you managed to go two thousand years without knowing it counted. At least I don’t have to worry you’ve somehow lost the ability to
add
to three.” She glanced up at her husband as his cell phone rang
,
before she let out an exhausted sigh and moved over to the room’s sink. She scrubbed her hands, then started pulling out antiseptic, gauze
,
and bandages. Hooking a wheeled stool with her ankle, she yanked it over to Daniel and sat on it. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
It took him a moment to figure out what the hell she was talking about, until he remembered getting sliced by the bastard in the bar. He tried to push her away. “I’m fine, Seren.”
“No you’re not.” She shook her head as she began to clean around the wound. Daniel didn’t bother to remind her that his body would heal itself over the next few hours. . “Shelby took a lot out of you to keep fighting, and she’s going to need more yet. I can’t put blood in her as quickly as her body can produce it, thanks to your mark. The last thing either of you need is for your gash to get infected.”
He snarled at the sting of the antiseptic, again not bothering to point out that dragons couldn’t get human infection s . He knew she worried, so they’d long since come to a compromise.
He allowed her to bandage his wounds as long as she didn’t try to use . The last time he’d let his guard down enough for someone to use a spell on him, he’d ended up chained under a lake for months. “What the hell am I supposed to do with her? Can’t I just leave her here?”
Daniel gritted his teeth when she shook her head. He hadn’t expected her to agree, and even if she had, it wasn’t in his DNA to leave his mate vulnerable. He’d screwed up, and until he found out who had shot her, he wasn’t going to let her out of his sight.
She glanced at him as she wrapped a bandage around his torso. They both knew it was a pointless gesture, but the healer in her ran deep, even if pregnancy was currently limiting her abilities. Healing took a lot of energy out of her, draining her while leaving the baby vulnerable if something happened. “So why haven’t you let go of her hand yet?”
A smart-ass reply came to mind, but his large hand still gripped tight around Shelby’s much smaller one. He’d meant to let go of Shelby the second Seren said she was going to be all right.
Ryuu. He knew he was an idiot, but he’d never realized how masochistic he really was. He couldn’t even refrain from holding the woman’s hand. Maybe Seren had a point. Maybe he did have brain damage.
“Ashborne.”
Cage’s tone of voice caused every muscle in Daniel’s body to tighten. He turned his head slowly to find the Hunter watching him , the puckered scar bisecting the left side of face twitching.
Cage didn’t waste words. “It looks like a hit. She wasn’t the target.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Daniel asked, rage starting to build at the base of his skull. “Who were they aiming for?”
Shelby moaned softly in her sleep, her body trembling as Daniel’s temper rocketed through the room.
“Daniel.” Seren snapped as she moved in front of him. It left him no choice but to look at her. “I need you to calm down, do you hear me? For your sake and--”
“Wife.”
Seren rounded on her husband. “This can’t wait?”
“No.” He barely spared her a glance before he re-focused his attention on Daniel. “It was
Luca on the phone. He’s not sure Shelby was the one they were after. He thinks it was you.”