Chapter Nineteen
Caine
He lay in bed, pinching his leg over and over again to ensure that he wasn’t dreaming, that this had really happened.
After agonizing for days over when the right time to tell Annalise would be, he’d just sort of told her, and then he’d shown off. The ice-rink trick was a little over the top. He could have done something smaller, but no, he’d wanted to impress her. It had worked, and he’d gotten his kiss from it.
Well, his kiss and a little bit more.
Annalise lay asleep next to him, her face completely slack and relaxed in the manner of those sleeping far deeper than they’re accustomed to. It had been a long, tiring day for her, he thought with a grin. For both of them. Even though he’d eaten more for dinner than he was comfortable doing in front of his mate, he was still tired. It would take time for his reserves to replenish themselves.
Stabbing his hand with a knife earlier hadn’t helped much. Looking back, he still wasn’t sure what that had accomplished, besides to prove he turned into a testosterone-infused idiot like any other warm-blooded male around a woman he wanted to impress. A simple cut anywhere would have done exactly the same job, and would have taxed his system far less.
Oh well. In the end it had been worth it. There was still a pink line on his hand where the fresh skin had healed closed. That took the longest to fade, because it wasn’t actually an injury. It was simply fresh skin.
Once more he fingered his scar. It ran from the bottom of his neck, down over his left pec, and stopped around his third rib. The scar had been given to him at the same time he’d been evicted from the dragon enclave with his brothers. As a child. The then-leader of the enclave had come after him in dragon form, and though Caine was fast and wily, he hadn’t avoided every attack. Only a bit had gotten through, but the onyx dragon’s acid had left him with a permanent reminder of the life he and his brothers had once lived.
Beside him Annalise—no, she wanted him to call her Anna from now on he recalled, his face cracking open in a smile at the memory—Anna stirred in her sleep. He reached out and laid a hand on her. She smiled and curled up around him, calming instantly. A few moments later she sighed and relaxed, freeing his hand, though he didn’t move it.
They had made a major breakthrough today. Not just on the physical front, though he knew that was of no small importance either. Today he had seen his mate shine through, the personality he’d only caught glimpses of before coming to light. Fun, flirty, and witty. She had it all a thousand times over.
“Perfect,” he whispered.
It might have been his imagination, but he could have sworn her face twitched upward ever so slightly, looking happy as well as content.
Feeling his hunger return, he got to his feet and padded into the kitchen. His brothers hadn’t come home yet, though he figured they would. Overall it was still early, not even quite midnight. Knowing the foursome, they were probably still at Mcguiver’s Pub, waiting for Andria to finish her shift. He looked forward to the days when Anna and he could join them there.
Assuming they stayed in town. He still wasn’t sure what Anna’s plans were, but he hoped they were starting to figure him into them. He would go with her, if that’s what it took, if she couldn’t settle down in Barton City with him and the others. After they’d dealt with the senator that would be the next thing they’d have to talk about. He was privately dreading that conversation, not sure where it would go.
For now though, he contented himself with stuffing his face with some leftover chicken and scalloped potatoes. Delicious.
Chomping down happily, he leaned back against the fridge, looking out over the downtown core of Barton City. Lights flickered and flashed. Though it wasn’t one of the major coastal cities or interior powerhouses that he’d heard about, it was certainly big enough that it never really slept.
As he watched something flickered and waved in front of the window.
“Wha ‘a ‘ell?” he mumbled through a mouthful of chicken and potato mash.
Putting the containers down, he slipped around the island, squinting his eyes against the reflection from the lights. What the hell was that? A bird?
Something thudded against the window to his right. Then far to his left. Curious, he backpedaled, reaching for the light switch. Killing the lights and dropping the apartment into pitch black gave him a much clearer visual of what was going on outside the windows.
“ANNA LOCK THE DOOR!” he roared at the same instant the windows exploded inward in a hailstorm of glass shards.
He flung up an arm to protect his more vulnerable eyes, ducking low, hoping the furniture would absorb much of the damage. The blastwave staggered him slightly, but he put his left foot behind him and steadied himself, standing up as booted feet landed on the hardwood flooring inside the huge apartment.
“Take him down!” one of the black-clad attackers shouted. It wasn’t panicked, but calm and precise.
A professional.
“Good luck with that,” he snarled.
Behind him he heard the door to his bedroom click shut. “Caine what’s going on?!” There was fear in her voice.
That settled it. He was going to kill everyone. Cold fury settled over him. He harnessed that, calling his powers to him, preparing to fight.
“Stay down and get in the bathtub!” he shouted.
There were four men inside the apartment now, having come through separate windows. Even as they shuffled to the side, raising weapons, Caine spied another four rappelling down the ropes and preparing to enter.
He raised his hand and a gust of snow arose, clouding the air and spinning the unsecured attackers around, the ropes twisting and bouncing wildly. None of them fell, but it bought him time.
“Fire!”
Light from the muzzles of the weapons flashed, and Caine was spun around by the impact of two bullets, the force of it dropping him to one knee. Agony in his upper left chest and right ribcage told him precisely where he’d been hit. The scales prevented serious damage, but it still hurt.
“He’s getting up. Hit him again!”
Caine flung himself behind the island a moment before bullets tore into it. The other dragons would no doubt hear the gunshots, but it would take time for them to come to his aid. If he was going to do this, he was going to need to do it himself.
“Get the girl.”
Rage as cold as the depths of space filled his entire being. His eyes, already a brilliant blue, began to glow white. All around him the temperature plummeted, dropping so quickly the marble countertop cracked as it froze. The air became hard to breathe for anyone not an ice dragon, and he heard the assault team begin to curse.
Caine rose from his hiding place as the gunfire stuttered to a halt. His skin was turning white as his dragon scales came to the fore. He jabbed a hand toward the bedroom door. The two men charging toward it skidded to a stop as ice and snow swirled in front of them, becoming a living entity, held together by the force of Caine’s mind.
The snow-dog snapped its jaws at the attackers, teeth of razor-sharp ice clacking together loudly. The men backed away from the abomination, but it was too late. They had nowhere to go.
His hands dropped to his sides, summoning forth two more of the vicious winter animals. The pair flanked him as he advanced on the remainder of the team. Ice flowed over his fists, coating them in a studded, flexible layer designed to inflict maximum damage.
“You come to my home,” he snarled, approaching the team as they frantically reloaded, terrified by the glowing apparition coming right at them.
“You insult my honor.”
Icy jaws snapped and the dogs strained at his command, begging to be unleashed.
“And you threaten my mate!” He was yelling by the end, his voice a weapon of its own, a hurricane force of words that reached out and pushed the men toward the window, even as it peppered them with shards of ice.
His entire body was coated in scales now, the room illuminated solely from the glow of his eyes.
“How dare you,” he hissed.
The dogs and Caine attacked as one.
The attackers stood no chance. They had no idea who or what it was they were going up against, or if they did, they were woefully unprepared for the frozen wrath of an ice dragon in full battle rage. His fists shredded armor and crushed bones. The dogs bore men to the ground, stopping just short of ripping their throats out, though blood did drip from their mouths.
“We surrender!”
“Surrender?” He casually picked the man up by his uniform, holding him a foot off the ground. “Who said surrender was an option?”
Then he tossed the attacker out the window, listening with pleasure as he screamed the entire way down.
“Deal with the rest of them,” he commanded the dogs.
One by one the rest of the team went the way of their commander. Caine didn’t know who had ordered the attack, and he didn’t care. This was his home, and they had come for Annalise. He couldn’t let that stand.
He didn’t watch, however, because he was headed for the door to the bedroom.
At the last second he paused, closing his eyes and letting the power he’d summoned fade, until his eyes no longer glowed and his skin had returned to its normal pale complexion. No need to scare her.
Opening the door, he walked into the darkened bedroom. “Annalise?”
“GO AWAY!”
“Caine?” Something crashed to the floor.
Slowly he reached out and flicked on the light, tasting blood as it ran down his cheek. “What did you hit me with?” He glanced down even as he asked the question. “Did you rip the towel bar off the wall and use it to hit me?”
Anna didn’t respond, she just flung herself at him. “Caine!”
He barely rocked under the impact, holding her tight to him, relishing the moment. “I’m okay,” he whispered. “Everything is okay. Except for my cheek.”
She pulled back, the injury she’d caused just now registering. “Ohmigosh! Caine. I’m so sorry!”
“It’s okay.” He waved off her concern. “First the rolling pin. Now a towel bar. Remind me never to let you take up any sport that involves sticks. My face can’t handle it.”
They shared a smile, the humor helping to calm the adrenaline flowing through both of them.
“What happened out there?” she asked.
He growled angrily. “The boot dropped.”
Outside the bedroom the wind howled through the shattered glass, a symbol of how the security of the apartment building had been broken. A place long thought of as a sanctuary and impregnable had now been violated. Caine wasn’t sure how that would change things, but he knew one thing.
They couldn’t stay there any longer.