Cowl
“Andria, it’s been four days. Nothing has happened. It’s fine.”
She pushed herself back out from underneath her car. “It’ll be fine after the trial is over tomorrow. Not before.”
“He’s not going to plant a bomb under your car,” he said, exasperated. “The first person they’d investigate is him. It’s called motive, and he has it in spades.”
“I don’t care. I’m not going to let you be hurt because you got involved with me.”
“Oh, I’m involved with you now? Is that what we are?”
“We’re more than that, but stop fishing for an answer as to what.”
He grinned, lifting her to her feet and planting a kiss on her lips. “Darling, I’m a dragon. They can’t hurt me.”
“Well, a bomb would probably hurt me.”
“For the last time. They are not going to bomb you. Blow you up. Whatever. Typical bad-guy ploys in this instance are to go after me and threaten me to make you do what they want.” He grinned evilly, all his teeth showing. “But if they try that, they’ll realize they made a big, big mistake.”
He pinned her between him and the car, kissing her some more.
“Are you just boasting about the size of your dick?” she asked, reaching between them to run her hand up and down it.
“I wasn’t, but now that you mention it…” He nipped at her earlobe, feeling her fingers tighten around his arms while she giggled into his neck.
“Not here.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it. Not with the things I want to do to you.” He whispered into her ear his idea.
Andria gasped. “You savage! How dare you suspect me of being into such dirty, and um, naughty things!”
Cowl chuckled. They hadn’t had sex again since that first rushed time in the dark, but Andria had certainly lightened up about talking about it, so he felt comfortable in making his comments.
“You aren’t. Yet. But I’ll show you how fun they can be.”
She went bright red at the suggestion. “Brute.”
“Temptress.”
“Barbarian.”
“Goddess.”
“Beast.”
“Seductress.”
“Fiend.”
“Tease.”
“Monster.”
“Enchantress.”
Andria pouted. “You’re just using the same words over again in slightly different ways.”
He kissed her. “And you’re just upset you ran out of things to call me first.”
“I hate when you’re right!”
Cowl kissed her again, uncaring of who saw them in the parking lot. This was his mate, and he would kiss her wherever he felt like. He wasn’t ashamed of her; quite the opposite. Cowl thought his mate was the sexiest woman alive, and he was determined to show her off to everyone, making them all jealous.
“Okay, can we go home now?”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“Can we…go to your place?”
Cowl froze. His place? She wanted to go there? “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Violet said she’s going to be up all night baking cupcakes, trying new recipes and stuff. I just want to sleep.”
“Yeah. Yeah we can go to my place. Of course. It’s not far. Do you want to walk?”
“Sure.” He pushed off the car and extended his bent arm for her to link.
Something sounded from the alley between the pub and the dry cleaners. Without thinking, Cowl straightened his arm and pushed Andria behind him. He stared into the darkness, noticing shapes moving in it toward them.
Something started to clang as it was bounced off the walls. Seconds later he heard the sound of metal dragging across concrete. Someone had a pipe, and another some chain.
Cowl tested the air. Immediately he picked up the trace of a scent he recognized all too well. “Jake,” he hissed.
True enough, the first person out of the alley resolved itself into Jake. He looked terrible. Days of unshaven hair covered his face. The leather jacket he wore hung from him loosely, ill-fitting and ragged, with rips and tears all up the sleeves and down the sides. Behind him came Mikey and Danny, both looking worse for wear, but definitely better than their boss.
“You need to get out of here,” he said over his shoulder.
“Uh, Cowl?”
He turned around.
Four more men were approaching from the rear. Cowl recognized two of them as the goons that Malkin had brought with him to the pub. The other two he didn’t recognize, but they were staring at him with unashamed glee in their eyes.
“It would seem I’m a little famous,” he muttered, wondering how he was going to deal with this.
“Cowl, what do we do?”
“I take it I’m still not allowed to kill anyone?”
“No, you can’t. They’re bad men, but they’re still men, and they deserve a chance to change, to turn to good.”
That was something he loved about his mate. She saw the best in everyone, even when it wasn’t there to be seen. She held out faith that they would see the error of their ways.
Unfortunately, that made Cowl’s job a lot more difficult.
“Hello, Cowl.”
Jake was speaking.
“What do you want, Jake? Are you sure you’re feeling okay? You look unwell.”
The other man’s eyes flared wide with fervent anger. “Don’t tell me how I look. I’m good. I’m better than I’ve been in a long time.” He reached into his pocket and withdrew a clear bag that contained several purple pills. A pair of them disappeared into his mouth. His followers each took one.
Great. They were high.
“Can I please kill them?” he begged.
Jake laughed at the suggestion, while Andria again said no.
“Nobody is going to die.” Jake stabbed the metal pipe in his hand at Andria. “Unless she decides to testify. Then, Cowl, I think your luck will have had run out. Isn’t that right, boys?”
Evil laughter came at them from all directions.
Cowl longed for the old days. He could feel the ice within him, frost eager to form wherever he willed it. Including freezing every inch of water in the seven warm bodies surrounding him. It would be so easy. But he couldn’t. Not without betraying Andria’s trust, something he’d worked too hard to gain.
“I wouldn’t do this, Jake.” That was Andria now, sounding more confident. Maybe she’d recalled that he was a dragon, and wasn’t worried about the outcome. His only concern was how to do so without killing anyone, and without leaving her vulnerable. Cowl could handle seven of them, but that would take him time. Time enough that if one or two were smart, they could dart in and get Andria.
At which point he would have no choice but to kill them. Nobody was going to lay a hand on his mate today. Maybe with Andria talking she could dissuade them.
“Don’t tell me what to do, you stupid bitch. Stick to what you’re good at, getting naked and lying on your back!”
Okay. Well that settled that. Cowl wasn’t standing by any longer. “Can I have the keys please, honey?”
Andria stared at him wide-eyed. “What?”
“The keys. Now please.”
She handed him the keys. He popped the trunk and flipped up the mat in the back, remembering what his driving instructor back at the base had told him was usually contained there. To his delight, it still was. Cowl didn’t have time; he could already hear Jake talking to his followers.
Instead of undoing anything Cowl simply snapped the metal restraints. Then he lifted the spare tire out of the back and without warning hurled it at Jake.
That set everything off. The other six goons came at him at once, wielding chains and metal pipes. Andria did the smart thing and slipped under the car, leaving him free to engage anyone.
A chain whipped out toward his face. He blocked it with an upraised forearm and twisted, yanking on the chain while also intending to lean down on one foot so he could kick the onrushing attacker in the stomach.
Two things happened at once.
First, his spin was stopped cold by whoever was holding the chain.
Secondly, Jake loomed up in front of him none the worse for wear, and delivered a wicked right hook to his face.
Cowl went down with blood spurting from his lips, but he’d been hit harder before. Bouncing to his feet, he grabbed Jake by the waist, intending to pile-drive the man into the ground.
Two fists clubbed him brutally in the back, spasms of pain running up and down his spine. His legs stopped responding for a moment and he stumbled and fell to all fours. Glancing over at the car, he met eyes with Andria, who was staring at him fearfully.
What the hell was happening here?
“You think you’re so big and strong. But you aren’t,” Jake taunted.
Cowl whipped his feet around, blowing Jake’s ankles out from under him and depositing the leader on his back. He tried to jump on him, but several of the other goons snatched him up. He flailed and punched and kicked, sending a pair to the ground, one nursing a broken nose.
Something was very, very wrong. He was too weak. Far weaker than he should ever have been.
Or they were stronger.
Cowl’s mind went to the pills he’d seen them take. Was that making them stronger? Better able to fight him? It seemed unlikely. He’d never met a human before who could come even close to his strength.
He slipped free of the grip of some others, backing away, taking his time to collect himself. If strength wasn’t going to win the battle, he was going to need to fight smart.
Another chain whipped out of the darkness. Cowl caught it on his wrist, and this time he didn’t hold back with his strength. He heaved, and the surprised thrower was pulled from his feet, flying right at the dragon shifter.
Cowl grinned and backhanded the man away, where he crashed to the ground in a heap. Maybe he was still stronger. He just couldn’t hold back any longer.
Jake got to his feet, looking around at the situation. His eyes focused on Andria, who was now on the far side of his squad from Cowl.
“Keep him occupied, boys. I’ll take her.”
Cowl bellowed in anger and charged at the group. He launched himself feet-first at the nearest attacker, dropkicking him twenty feet through the air. Cowl bounced off the ground, delivering a spinning backfist into another’s knee, ligaments and bone crunching under the impact.
Andria screamed as Jake got to her.
Blows rained down on him as the others came back, injuries not seeming to slow them. Cowl fought hard, giving as good as he could get, but there were just too many of them.
The last thing he saw were Danny’s jade eyes flashing with undisguised glee in the yellow light of the overhead lamp a split second before something metal made the world go dark.