Chapter Eight
“Tell me what your favorite color is,” Birk said once they were seated at the steakhouse.
Even though he’d ordered her favorite wine, a dry Mainsent, she vowed to keep it to one drink. Lily lifted the glass and sipped. “Hmm. My favorite color…” Her mind spun. “Maybe lime green?”
Birk smiled. “You don’t know?”
She laughed. “I’m not sure anyone has ever asked me that question, though it shouldn’t matter. I should know. What’s yours?”
“Whatever color your scales turn out to be.”
Lily wasn’t sure how to respond, but the heat flushing her face should have convinced him that the topic of mating and turning into a dragon was an uncomfortable one. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
The light in his eyes dimmed. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
Lily reached out and touched his hand. “I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just that I’ve never been in a good relationship before, so you’ll have to excuse me if I do or say anything that seems…insensitive maybe?”
Birk smiled, and his eyes lit up once more, transforming his irises from brown to that pretty teal color. “You aren’t capable of being insensitive, Lily.”
“It’s still early.” Lily laughed, hoping to inject some humor into the slightly strained conversation.
“We’ll see.” Birk leaned back in his seat and then polished off his glass of wine. “Given you ordered salmon for dinner, am I to assume that is your favorite food?”
“Yes, it is.” This time she didn’t hesitate. She’d never seen this side of Birk before, but she liked it. “Something’s going on with you. What is it?”
Birk placed a hand on his chest. “What do you mean? Can’t I learn more about you?”
He had a point, but she doubted that was the reason for his questions. “Sure, but you seem different somehow. Was it because you told me we are mates?”
“That’s a large part of it. Plus, you agreed to go to dinner with me. That’s a huge victory.”
She chuckled. Birk did seem genuinely excited to be with her. “I need to apologize once more. I shouldn’t have assumed you’d be like the rest of the men I’ve known.”
He set his empty glass back on the table and poured a refill. “How about we have a truce? No more apologizing, because I know I’m the one who will be making a ton of mistakes.”
Lily loved that Birk seemed to be as nervous as she was about being together. “Deal.”
“Good.” Birk reached into his pocket and held out his fist. “When I left this evening, it was to have something special made for you.” He unfolded his hand to expose a gorgeous ruby red stone ring that was in the shape of a heart.
She sucked in a breath. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. It’s beautiful.”
“It’s called a protection ring.” Birk described how he’d taken a ruby scale from his body and had it ground up fine. When mixed with some herbs, it turned into a stone. “Some special white-lighters put a spell on it to make that happen. I then had my younger brother, Camden, make it into a ring—which was what took me so long. If you rub the surface, I’ll be able to tell if you’re in distress.” He handed it to her.
Lily had never heard of anything like that before. Then again, she wasn’t friends with any white lighters—other than Nessa. Lily slipped it on her right hand and wiggled her fingers. “Perfect fit. Can I test it out?”
“You can try, but since you aren’t in any trouble, I might not sense anything.”
She’d never been given such a special gift like this before. Actually, it wasn’t the ring itself that was special as much as it was Birk. How had she been so blind before to lump him into the same category as Nelor?
Lily ran her thumb over the surface and then looked up at him. “Did you feel anything?”
He shook his head. “No, but as I said, I will if you’re afraid. If you ever need me, and I’m not around, the ring will let me know I need to come for you.”
She smiled, still in disbelief that something like this could work. “Thank you. I will.” Lily nodded to his almost finished dinner. “Back to our twenty questions. Is steak your favorite food?”
Talking about her emotions was too unsettling. Listening to Birk would be much easier to deal with.
“Sometimes, but I like to change things up.” He placed his napkin on his lap. “I have one for you. What was your favorite memory growing up?”
“That’s easy. On my thirteenth birthday, my aunt took me to Earth.”
His eyes widened. “At thirteen? I didn’t go through the portal until I was close to forty.”
His confession shook her for a minute until she remembered that dragons aged very slowly compared to humans. Birk had previously told her he was over one hundred years old, but he sure didn’t look much older than thirty. “Now that you mention it, I think I would have appreciated visiting Earth a lot more if I had waited,” she said.
“Where did you go?” Excitement laced his voice.
“To New York City. Growing up, I had always been a dreamer and loved to read. When the woman my aunt cleaned for gave her two tickets to the Broadway Show Cats as a thank you, my aunt knew she had to take me with her.”
“Had she ever been to Earth before?”
“Twice. My uncle had been fairly well off, but he died rather young. When she ran through their savings, my aunt went back to work.” Lily sighed. “In hindsight, I believe my aunt wanted to go more than I did.” She let the memory wash over her. “I remember her being so nervous at having to apply for a portal crossing.”
“Why? Usually, it’s only criminals who have to worry about being denied.”
“I know, but because she was a servant, she feared the guards would turn her down. She even had to ask for an advance—in dollars—to go.” Lily waved a hand to erase that image. “Thankfully, we were granted entry. When we arrived, I was totally overwhelmed.”
“By the number of people?”
“By everything—the noise, the smells, and even by the way people from Earth dressed. Not to mention there were no dragons buzzing overhead.”
Birk nodded. “I had the same experience the first time I went, but my dad took me out west, so I wasn’t overloaded with tall buildings or a massive amount of traffic. I did find the more often I went, the more things seemed to be the same as here. Those in the U.S. drive Fords and Chevys, while we drive Zandons and Ulrichs, but the concept for both is the same. For the most part, we Tarradonians have been heavily influenced by those on Earth.”
“I hadn’t been sure if that was true until I saw it for myself.”
For a brief moment she thought about asking if he’d take her again, but Kyle said now that he was with Nessa, he could come and go to the other realms with no problem.
“Did you enjoy it?” he asked.
“Enjoy what?”
He laughed. “The play. My cousin Kaleena has mentioned a few times how she’s always wanted to see a Broadway show.”
“Yes, I loved it. It was all so magical.” She chuckled at the memory. “After that, I became fixated on cats.”
“The animal kind or the shifter kind?”
Lily was so enjoying Birk. This side of him was fun and interesting. “The animal kind, though it did make me wonder about shifters. Nelor was my first shifter, and you know how that turned out.”
“All dragons were not created equally.”
“I realize that now.”
Their waiter came over. “Finished?” he asked.
“Yes,” Birk said.
“Would either of you care for dessert?” he asked.
Birk was so fit that she bet he could eat ten desserts and not gain an ounce. Because she was short and sat at a desk for much of the day, just looking at cake put on the pounds. “I’m good,” she said.
“Me too. The check please,” Birk said.
Because he had asked her out, she suspected he’d want to pay. After he did and left a generous tip, Birk escorted her to the door. He then had her wait inside, while he went out and surveyed the street. Birk was an over-the-top bodyguard, but it gave Lily a sense of assurance that she was safe in his care.
He’d just escorted her to the car when his phone rang. “It’s Declan,” he said as he held open the car door for her to slide in. He pressed the phone to his ear. “What’s up? We just left the steakhouse.” Birk walked around the car to his side and hopped in, not saying anything for a minute. “I see. Thanks. Of course. See you there.”
Birk stuffed the phone in his pocket but said nothing as he started the car. “What did he want?” she finally asked after Birk pulled onto the road.
“Apparently there has been a development, and Declan needs to discuss it with us.”
Us? She didn’t like the way his voice had turned hard. “Did he say what kind of development?”
“Not completely.”
From the change in his mood, he’d told Birk something that wasn’t good. Since he wasn’t speeding home or glancing every few seconds into the rear view mirror, it probably wasn’t anything life threatening.
Once they arrived at her place, he managed to find a spot in front of her apartment.
Birk reached out and gave her leg a quick squeeze, and his mere touch excited her. “Wait until I come over to your side before you get out.”
Really? “The apartment building is all of twenty feet away.”
He shrugged. “You know me. I can’t be too careful. Humor me, okay?”
After the wonderful evening, she’d agree to almost anything. “Sure.”
While he was taking this protection stuff too far, she understood his need. Kyle had explained what it was like being mated to Nessa. Every time his mate experienced a fast heart rate, he knew it. Yikes. She wasn’t sure she was ready for that kind of intimate connection.
While Birk wasn’t pressuring her to mate—for which she was grateful—he would ask her at some point. She appreciated that he had given her a choice whether to accept his offer of mating or not.
He opened the car door. “All clear.”
When they stepped into her hallway, Declan was waiting for them. He nodded at both of them. “I trust you had a nice dinner?” He glanced between them, but clearly the question was directed at her.
“Yes. The food and conversation were excellent.” She unlocked her door. “Come in. Can I brew you a cup of tea, Declan?”
“No, thank you. Unfortunately, this isn’t a social call.”
Okay, that wasn’t good. Lily dropped her purse on the dining room table and slipped off her sweater. Declan sat in the chair, while she and Birk took the sofa across from him.
“Why don’t you tell Lily what you told me,” Birk said.
“Sure. Our cousin, Anderson Caspian, is a detective for the A.P.P. This afternoon, Thresh Toma turned himself in.”
Lily’s pulse soared. “For attempting to hurt me?”
His chin tucked in as if he knew nothing about that incident. “No, for burning down his warehouse.”
“Why would he admit to something that will earn him jail time?”
Declan shot a look at Birk she couldn’t quite decipher. Birk nodded and twisted toward her. “Toma has done a lot of things in his life that he’s not proud of.”
“I’ll grant you that he’s no saint.” Though she assumed he’d never feel guilty about committing a crime. “Does he feel that bad about what he did?”
“I guess,” Birk said.
“Why would he come forward now? He’s been denying it the whole time.”
“Remember you said that Mrs. Toma told you her ex-husband’s last venture failed?”
“Yes.”
“To keep things afloat, he had to borrow money—a staggering amount.”
She could fill in the rest. “And whoever he borrowed the money from wants it back, so he torched his own warehouse to get it.”
Declan leaned forward. “Mostly. Toma actually hired someone to do the deed, but he won’t name anyone. That’s not what worries us though.”
“Then what?”
“When Toma realized he wouldn’t receive all the money he needed, he tried his hand at gambling. Unfortunately for him, that didn’t give him enough either. When the date they gave him to pay expired, some men kidnapped his daughters as collateral. They told him that their boss was willing to give him an extension to pay off the rest of the loan.”
“Why turn himself in?”
“Toma now wants the police to help him get his daughters back. He gave them the name of the man responsible for the kidnapping. It’s Richard Dorlack, a known syndicate boss who we’ve been trying to catch for a while.”
“That sounds like good news. You know who has his daughters, and from what Birk said, he’s in Glen Meadow, so why aren’t you celebrating?”
Declan scrubbed a hand down his jaw. “Dorlack told Toma that he has ten days to pay him back. If he does, his daughters will be returned. If he doesn’t, his daughters will be sold on the black market.”
Lily sucked in a breath. She’d heard that kind of thing happening on Tarradon, but she’d never wanted to believe it was true. “He’s hoping that by giving you Dorlack, the police would step in and save his family?”
“Yes and no,” Declan said. “Toma received a call early this morning. Unbeknownst to him until now, Dorlack’s men have had Toma under surveillance for quite some time. They spotted you going to his office and then checking out the warehouse.”
She didn’t see where he was headed, but dread was pooling in her stomach nonetheless. “And?”
“When Dorlack watched the video feed, he found you highly attractive.”
That was the last thing she expected him to say. Birk grabbed her hand and squeezed hard, probably with more force than he’d intended.
“Why are you telling us this?” Birk said between gritted teeth.
Declan inhaled deeply then slowly let out his breath. “Because Dorlack told Toma that if he delivered Lily to him, he’d not only return his two daughters, he’d forget the debt Toma owes him.”
Birk barked out a laugh while Lily’s heart nearly stopped. “Does he really think Toma is capable of taking Lily? If he thinks that, then Dorlack is delusional,” Birk said.
Lily was speechless. “Do you believe Toma?” She looked between Declan and Birk.
Declan nodded. “Toma knows Birk is your protector. Toma admits that while he didn’t treat you with proper respect, he’s not willing to assist in abducting you and turning you over to someone who would abuse you or worse.”
Birk let go of her hand, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and pulled her close. “If Dorlack decides to come after Lily himself, he’ll get her over my dead body.”