Chapter 4

4

Saved by a witch.Not something Dracin would have guessed would happen in a million years. For one, given his rather constrained upbringing, he never even knew they existed—or that a witch would be so cute.

And deadly.

She’d appeared innocuous when she first arrived. Another hapless victim he couldn’t help. In silence from behind his bars, he’d watched her giving the vampire attitude. Expected her to get hurt when that female bloodsucker had been sneaking up behind her, only the witch wiggled her fingers and blam. She’d set the threat on fire.

Impressive, but even more surprising? His dragon’s reaction.

Mine. A no-argument, no-doubt statement from his beast that this petite and feisty woman was meant to be his mate.

His.

Fucking.

Mate.

Which might not have been so bad but for the fact the first time they met face to face she had to come to his rescue because his weak ass couldn’t get out of a cage. Way to not impress. As if he cared what she thought. Once he left the garage, they’d never see each other again.

Want.

No, his reply to his beast. Despite what his dragon thought, he didn’t want a mate.

Apparently, she didn’t either, given she ignored his ass and stalked across to the other cages. Crouching down to peek. Wiggling her fingers and making the concrete floor glow. She made not a sound as she worked. Neither did he as he watched, which might have explained her surprise when she turned and saw him. “How come you’re still here?”

“Just making sure the vamps don’t return and put you in one of those things.” He indicated the cage.

Her nose wrinkled. “As if it could hold me.”

“I thought the same.”

“Fear not. While you might not be able to channel electricity, I can. I can also bend those bars. So, you see, nothing to worry about.”

The arrogance stunned. Mostly because he’d been so sure he could easily surmount his imprisonment as well. For a fleeting second, he debated not mentioning Theodore’s nasty implant that prevent him from acting. But what if Theodore returned and she counted on Dracin as backup and that fucker took him out with the press of a button. “The vamps put something inside me.”

She paused her stalking toward the far wall to eye him. “They molested you?” She completely misunderstood.

“No!” he huffed, partially horrified. “They surgically inserted some kind of device. I don’t know exactly what, but it’s small enough I can’t feel it. It is powerful, though. With the press of a button, they can render me unconscious. They can also constrain my beast.” A beast she’d yet to ask about. She probably thought him some mangy dog.

Ack. The very idea had his dragon just about having a conniption.

A whistle emerged from her perfect full lips. “Well, that’s unexpected. Where did they insert it?”

His shoulders rolled. “No idea. By the time I knew what they’d done, the injection site had healed over.”

“Hmm. Shouldn’t be too hard to find given it’s a foreign object. Stand still while I look.”

Being told to not move made him want to fidget, especially since she stood close.

Bite her.

We are not biting.

But she’s ours.

No, she’s not.

His dragon pouted.

He didn’t entirely blame the beast. The witch oozed sexy. She also probably had her picture under the definition of feisty. But he’d been controlling himself for a long time now. Surely he could handle a few minutes of close proximity.

Luckily, she didn’t waste time.

Her eyes went out of focus, and he could see a soft golden glow around her. She paced around him before she murmured, “I think I found it. Stem of your skull, embedded in the brain matter.”

The word embedded almost made him wince. He should count himself lucky he didn’t wake a vegetable. “Can you remove it?”

“Maybe, but not here.”

“Where then?”

She pursed her lips. “My hotel room won’t be adequate. The extraction will require boiling water to sterilize among other things. I’ll talk to the coven about borrowing a kitchen.”

“I have a kitchen,” he blurted out.

“What about a sharp knife?”

His lips quirked. “I hunt and process meat, so yeah.”

“It will be painful. Do you have analgesics? Something to numb the pain?”

“Would whiskey count?”

Her lips quirked. “So long as you keep a glass for me when I’m done.”

“Deal.”

“Very well. Once I’m finished here, we will proceed to your place for the removal.”

“There ain’t anything else to see here.” He indicated the barren parking garage.

She glanced upward. “Are the floors above deserted?”

“No idea. But I didn’t hear anything, and the vamps only ever came in through the main entrance.” He indicated the ramp.

“Given the concrete ceiling, you might not have noticed. Let’s go take a peek.”

While he wanted nothing more than to leave this fucking place, he found himself shadowing her brisk steps, enjoying a little too much the wiggle of her ass in her slim-fitting slacks. Her fleece-lined jacket ended just an inch below her waist. Classy yet practical attire. He wore a simple tracksuit, given to him after they hosed him off in between visits by prospective buyers. Nothing like shivering with cold in soggy jeans to agree to swap garments. He might be ornery, but he preferred to not add stupid to that list. Just like he’d not rejected the food and water they brought. Couldn’t escape if he was weak from hunger and dehydration.

They had to use the stairwell since the elevator had an out-of-order sign. She nimbly climbed the steps, and he resisted an urge to tell her to slow down and let him go first. It was as if she wanted to rush headlong into danger. The only reason he didn’t pull an alpha male and insist? The lack of any recent scents. He could have told her no one had been by in quite some time, but he had a feeling she’d still insist on taking a look.

As expected, the first floor showed no signs of habitation. Just a bunch of empty offices, a few still with cheap desks and chairs.

Same on the second level. “There’s nothing here,” he stated once they hit the third floor without seeing anything of worth.

Hands planted on her hips as she pursed her lips. “Agreed, which means they’re keeping the paperwork on the sales elsewhere.”

“Assuming they’re tracking it. After all, what they’re doing is illegal,” he pointed out.

“The vampires are meticulous when it comes to business. They’ll have records for a few reasons. One, to document who bought what and how much they paid. Two, it provides them with a means to blackmail. And three, because they’re cocky assholes who think they’re above the laws.”

The expletive shocked and roused admiration. “You’re not frightened by this at all.”

“No. And neither are you. You’re angry,” she stated.

“Ya think?” his sarcastic reply. “The fuckers drugged me by slipping something in my whiskey at the bar. Which is a sacrilege on its own. Then they jumped me on my way to my truck and gave me another dose. I woke up in the cage. Unable to shift. The bars electrified.” He grimaced. “A fucking zoo animal they kept showing off to those with money.”

“You saw some of their clients?”

“Yeah.”

“Any names? Descriptions?”

“You plan on hunting them down?”

She turned a dark gaze on him. “The buyers are just as guilty as the sellers. Could be we’ll find some of the others who were taken. We also need to ensure they don’t do it again or reveal what they know.”

“Going to kill them?”

“They’ll be handled according to coven law.”

“Which says what in this kind of case?”

Her lips curved. “No mercy for those who trespass against us.”

She headed for the stairs, him trailing after her, impressed by her determination and heroic nature. For a guy who did his own thing and kept to himself, that kind of selfless behaviour confused and intrigued.

Hero. His dragon had a name for it.

She opened the door to the stairwell and entered without pause. He just managed to slap his hand on the portal before it shut and he instantly stiffened.

Not alone. He sensed more than smelled someone below. He leaped to land lightly in front of her on the first turn, finger to his lips.

Rather than speak, she nodded and let him take the lead. Knowing danger waited had him flexing with adrenaline. Dracin dearly wanted to hit something. He resisted the urge to crack his knuckles lest he warn the vamps below they were coming. They probably already knew, given their finely tuned hearing and sense of smell.

He could only hope Theodore with his dreaded app wasn’t among them because he’d hate to be reduced to a slobbering fool on the floor while Clarabelle fought by herself.

The vampires kept quiet, waiting to pounce. Rather than stroll into their midst, he vaulted over the railing, landing in a crouch to see three bloodsuckers.

Their eyes widened only a second before their fangs came out.

Let me eat them.

His beast totally wanted to emerge and chomp, but that wasn’t feasible for two reasons, one, the confined space, and two, the block against shifting remained in effect. A good thing he’d become handy with his fists when his mom enrolled him in Muay Thai and wrestling after she got tired of excuses by the principal at school as to why her son was being bullied. It had helped him as a teen, when he’d sprouted and girls started eyeing him, leading to jealous guys thinking they could take their frustrations out on him—they learned not to really quick. As an adult, Dracin frequented dive bars, the kind where he could drink alone, the only problem being it attracted other loner types, who, after a few too many beers, started picking fights.

All this to say, he wasn’t afraid to hit. And hit hard. Vamps weren’t humans, though, and could take a walloping. They were also strong, fast, and liked to fucking bite.

“Keep those teeth to yourself, bloodsucker!” He’d better be immune to their bite. He had no interest in becoming one.

Just as he readied to end the fight, Clarabelle appeared. “Anyone in the mood for some sunshine?” the dulcet question before a bright light flooded the stairwell. The shrieks of the vampires went with their panic as they tried to escape the illumination. They dove through the nearest door to escape.

He glared at the witch. “I was handling it.”

“You were playing with them, and I have better things to do.”

“Yeah, well, brilliant plan. They’re going to run off and tell their master I escaped.”

“Are they?” she queried as she strode through the door after them. They’d reached the first floor, with the vacant offices, doors ajar, and so many places and shadows to hide. “Come out, come out wherever you are,” she sang.

Crazy witch. Dracin stood back, not too far. and let her make a target of herself. The vampire couldn’t resist and sprang from the ceiling where he’d been clinging like a bat.

Before Dracin could smack him aside, the witch caught him in a fist of air. “Hello there. And who might you be?”

Snarl.

“Not one of the smarter ones, are you? You won’t do.” With that, she ignited the vampire and dropped him. The screaming pyre ran off.

Harsh but Dracin liked her style.

She stalked farther down the hall and he followed a few paces behind. The next vampire blitzed from a doorway, all fangs and outstretched clawed fingers. She tsked. “You’re barely more than an animal too. This clan really has strayed from the rules.”

Another vampire ran off burning.

One, wait, make that two remained. Apparently, the stairwell trio had a fourth partner.

Clarabelle stood, arms crossed, waiting. Petite and unassuming. The idiots didn’t pay attention to their burning brethren, that or their blood lust overruled common sense. They burst out into the open, rushing for her.

An upraised hand, all it took on her part, and they stopped as if they’d hit a wall.

She cocked her head. “Which one of you is going to live to tell your master his trafficking is over?”

“He’ll kill you, witch. He’ll suck you dry as he fucks you—”

A flick of her finger and the litany of threats ended, mostly because the vampire’s head separated from the body.

Damn. She was strong. Could all witches do that?

She stared at the last vampire, who visibly gulped. “You will take my message,” she stated, not asked.

His head bobbed.

“Good. Tell your leader, Theodore is his name I believe, that Clarabelle will be paying him a visit soon to discuss his transgressions. Understood?”

More frantic nodding.

“Begone before I change my mind. Oh, and you might want to apply to transfer to another clan. This one is done.” Her last low threat. The vampire scurried off, and Dracin waited, leaning against a wall as she returned to his side.

“Was that really wise giving out your name like that?”

“I don’t want him thinking it was someone from the local coven.”

Wait, did she just imply there were more witches in the city?

“You do realize you just declared war on the vampires,” he stated.

“I’m aware.”

He felt a need to point out, “You’re just one witch.”

“I’m sure I can conscript some help if I feel it necessary, but if these pathetic minions are an example of what to expect, I don’t think I have much to worry about. Now, if you’re done chastising, I’d like to finish up here. All that spellcasting has left me famished.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re crazy?”

Her lips curved into a sweet smile that tightened his groin. “All the time. As a teen, when my powers kept manifesting and I didn’t understand why, my parents had me institutionalized. They assumed I set the fires that kept cropping up with matches no one could find. They didn’t believe I was doing it with magic.” She waggled her fingers. “Luckily, a witch working in the hospital as a nurse recognized my problem as not being a mental one and got me into a coven-run school, where I was taught how to control myself.”

Despite himself, he couldn’t stem his curiosity. “How come your parents didn’t teach you?”

She cast a glance at him. “I was an anomaly. Born of non-magic parents. Rare but not unheard of. I assume one of your parents was a shifter.”

“My mom was,” he admitted. “But she got cast out of her pack for hooking up with my dad, who wasn’t.”

“How archaic. I can’t believe that, in today’s world, anyone cares who one loves.”

“Maybe people should care before they fuck up their kids,” he muttered. His parents’ forbidden relationship didn’t stand the test of time. His dad left when he was born, and his mom never recovered. It didn’t help that a wolf shifter didn’t know what to do with a child who was also a dragon. Mom’s response to that? Hide the fact he even existed. She seemed to think if people knew he’d be hunted. Given what he’d seen in movies? She most likely was right.

Clarabelle gave him a curious glance. “Not a believer in love?”

Yes.His dragon’s reply.

“No,” was what he said. He didn’t believe the true-mate bullshit his mother used to talk about. No matter how much this woman drew him, he would not succumb.

Nope.

Not happening.

Rather than let her magic blast a way out, he used his pent-up aggression to bust through the plywood covering a doorway on the main level. They spilled out onto the dark street.

Clarabelle gave him a light push. “Stand back while I send a message to the clan perpetrating the crime.”

“Isn’t that why we let one vamp go free?”

“I like to be thorough when it comes to making a point. Now, if you don’t mind…” She lifted her hands.

He didn’t move far. Why would he when the flames looked so pretty, licking at the plywood covering the windows? When she was satisfied, she glanced at him. “I’m hungry. This kitchen you mentioned, it has food?”

“Eggs and bacon okay?”

“Sounds delicious.”

The pickup truck he’d parked at a meter had long since been towed, meaning they had to take an Uber, which she paid for. As if his emasculation wasn’t already complete.

When she stood in front of the place he called home, he expected something disparaging about the small and very plain bungalow surrounded by forest.

Instead, she nodded and smiled. “Nice. Lots of privacy.” Then cast him a side-eye before saying, “Let’s see how well you cook.”

He knew she meant in the kitchen, and yet he almost wanted to boast he could do much better in the bedroom.

Resist. He had to resist. Now if only she wouldn’t make it so hard—like literally rock solid—when she made those happy noises while chewing her bacon—and not his cock.