Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

TRUTH or DARE

Approaching the castle at speed, he realized he should have warned Kate that she would only see battlements and ancient stone walls looming closer, while he could see his way through the solid structure as clearly as if his route were marked on a map.

He landed on the perch outside the window of his tower room, this time on Earth, not Thorgar. It was good to hear Kate laugh and to know she had enjoyed the high-octane thrill of the ride. No finer feelings were at work here. His dragon wanted her, and his dragon was not in the mood to wait.

"Fuck's sake!" Kate shouted as she tumbled off his neck. "I've lost my dragon legs." She'd landed in an unladylike sprawl on a deep-piled rug and stood up quickly to demand, "Do you have to frighten me half to death?"

"You wanted to go faster," he reminded Kate in thought.

"Not with a stone wall looming."

"A wall that conveniently disappeared."

"Okay, I forgive you, but warn me next time." Staring out the window, she turned serious. "At least I know how those deep grooves on my balcony ledge happened. Hang on," she added, frowning. "Have you been spying on me?"

"Is that all you can think of after flying between two dimensions?"

"More convenient for you if I didn't ask, I imagine."

"I have not been spying on you. At least, not in the way you think."

Gathering information did not include him becoming some form of reptilian Peeping Tom.

"Neat trick," she commented as he willed the walls back into position and returned to his human form. "But what's all this about being tired after the flight? I feel fine, and you look okay to me."

"Dragons don't get tired," he murmured, reading Kate's urges and deciding to make her wait.

"Good to know," she said dryly. "And as a man, how do you feel?"

The question was not about sex. Kate was working. Her quicksilver mind was busily evaluating facts. "As a man too," he said, "I am tireless."

"And modest," Kate observed, but her cheeks were blushing red. "Anyway, we should get down to business. It's obvious from your inspection trip just now to the portal that you're expecting trouble, and I want to help."

"You?" Pulling his head back, he gave the virago he had somehow invited into his life a cynical look. "What part do you think you could play?"

"Depends on what type of trouble you're facing."

"Trouble involving the supernatural should be beyond your skill set. Is it?"

"Should be," she agreed.

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you going to give me trouble?"

"Would you like me to?"

The challenge in Kate's eyes was real enough, but her mouth was soft and vulnerable.

"I would like you to," he confirmed. A tussle between them could be fun. "Why are you frowning?"

"Trying to work how much of this I can use in my article."

"Very little, I would have thought."

"Shall we start with some background on you? After all, you interrogated me while I was asleep."

"This is payback?" Or was it a delaying tactic? Kate was clearly apprehensive when it came to thoughts of sex. His dragon would have to take a back seat for now. "My parents were deeply in love. Use that as your starting point," he suggested. "As you already know, my mother was the laird's daughter. Living so close to the portal had consequences. It was almost inevitable that my parents would meet."

"That's so romantic." But Kate quickly moved on to harvest more facts. "Your father was the leader of the dragon clan, as you are now?"

"Yes."

"I wonder if we're connected in some way," Kate murmured, staring off into the middle distance as she frowned. "There was some trouble in my childhood," she confided. "I only remembered it today when I was flying on your back. I've flown on a dragon before—and I'm not talking about you. Long ago, when I was a little girl, I was rescued from my father's clutches by a dragon who brought me safely home to my mother." With a shake of her head, she gave a small huff of laughter. "Wouldn't it be incredible if that dragon was your father?"

"Not beyond the bounds of possibility," he admitted, lips pressing down as he reflected on this. "Where had your father taken you to?"

"Somewhere dark and frightening and full of shadows—it smelled really bad."

"Could it have been a graveyard?"

"Maybe?" Kate looked at him. "I hadn't thought of that, to be honest—and I don't want to think about it now."

"I get that," he said gently.

"Aren't I supposed to be asking the questions?"

Opening his arms wide, he shrugged.

"Tell me more about the troubles here," Kate insisted.

"There are always battles between one kind and another—one world and another."

"The other world being Thorgar, I presume? The alternate dimension dragons call home. Is that where we went when I flew on your back? Have I really experienced life in another dimension?"

"Yes."

"Is it possible to meet up with those I've lost in the past?"

"No." He was sorry to disappoint her. "They have a new life, and it would be wrong to try to keep them close. You have to let them go, Kate."

She didn't say anything for some time, and he sensed that she was struggling to hold back tears. He felt bad, both as a man and as a dragon, for putting her through this.

Kate Trent was doing quite a number on him. He'd always prided himself on remaining aloof and ignoring feelings that could only get in the way of his work, but she'd changed him.

"Can you tell me more about your father?" she pressed. "If I leave out the part about him being a dragon shifter and just mention how heroic he was in my article, with your permission, I may be able to use some of the details you've told me, as well as remember more things myself."

"Do you really think my father rescued you?"

"Well, someone did," she pointed out.

"My father was a dragon shifter, but he wasn't invincible. He was killed by a particularly powerful member of the White Hordes."

"Vampires," Kate shrugged. "I can't use that, either."

"They go by many names," he said as the thought occurred that their fathers may have met in battle. Bringing their offspring together like this would surely be karma in action.

"The enmity between your two kinds would explain the drama at your Gathering," Kate said thoughtfully. "And I thought, in my ignorance, what a great costume I'm wearing."

"It certainly woke everyone up," he agreed.

"What's the threat level now from the White Hordes?"

"High. They must have scented something to draw them here."

Me? he could imagine Kate thinking as she shuddered with revulsion.

"Don't beat yourself up. They would no doubt plague us anyway."

"You're thinking the same as me, aren't you?" she challenged. "And I'm not just talking about me being fresh meat. The pieces of the jigsaw are falling into place. They think I'm one of them. Do you?"

He couldn't knock Kate for asking such a direct question. In fact, he was glad she was aware of the danger. He'd do everything to protect her, but Kate would have to be on her guard.

"Where are they now, these undead creatures?"

"Everywhere. They rose up on Earth and found a way through the portal to Thorgar, where they set up a colony. Having established a base, they launched their attacks. Their sights were set on destroying my father so they could take over his dragon power. I was on Earth guarding my mother and our people here, shifters and non-shifters alike, when the battle started."

"That evil entity killed your father in the only way a dragon shifter could be killed," Kate reflected out loud. "He pierced your father's dragon heart with a sword forged out of space iron."

His suspicions regarding Kate flared into life again. "How do you know that?"

"You must have told me, or I read it somewhere—I bought books on Scottish myth and legend in anticipation of this visit, and to spice up my article."

Doubt raged on. Why must Kate make everything so hard? His dragon wanted her, and his dragon always got what it wanted, but not this time, because Kate was so much more complicated than any woman he'd ever known.

"The creature that killed my father is still out there somewhere." Which was why he worked hard at not caring. He didn't have an iota of spare time for emotion. All he could think about was revenge—until a force of nature called Kate Trent invaded his life.

"What you should do now," he informed her, "is leave here and concoct some story to thrill your editor and your readers, leaving me to do the work I must do."

"Desert you in a time of terrible danger? Not a chance!" Kate assured him fiercely.

"I signed up for this. You didn't."

"Not until I got here, but now I'm a fully paid-up member."

"I'd be happier if you left."

"Then, you'd better prepare to be sad," she said. "I need an angle for my story, and you need all the help you can get."

The words had barely left her mouth when thunder crashed around them. This increased activity could only mean one thing: an illegal incursion by enemies into the portal. Only dragons had the right of free passage. All other creatures had to apply for permission to move between one dimension and another.

"What's happening?" Kate demanded, reading his concern.

"It may be nothing?—"

"It's clearly something."

Yes, and he was already making plans to keep her out of the fight.

Kate frowned. "Torran? Tell me. What's going on?"

"I can't see," he admitted. "The undead have barriers that make them as hard to read as you."

"Why don't you just come out and say it?" she snapped. "You think I'm one of them. But I'm a blood donor, Torran. I think they might have told me if ice ran through my veins."

"I know you're warm-blooded." He'd touched her, inhaled her wildflower perfume, He knew.

Kate glared at him. Emotion was running high. "I hope you're not accusing me of spying!"

"Isn't that what reporters do?"

"Not this reporter."

"I only have your word on that."

"You—"

She swore viciously. "Idiot?" he suggested mildly. Capturing her flailing fists in one hand, he pinned them on the wall above her head. She had never looked lovelier or more desirable to him. "Cut the crap, Kate. Anger gets you nowhere."

"Doesn't it? What does work for you, Torran? Why don't you kiss me? You know you want to."

When he made no move, she wriggled free, but instead of backing off, she came forward and, standing on tiptoe, she kissed him. "A girl can get tired of waiting," she said wryly.

"You're playing a very dangerous game."

"I hope so," Kate said frankly. "If what you've told me is true, your life will be in danger soon, so I don't see the point in waiting."

Kate's eyes had turned a startling emerald green. They slayed him. "Has anyone ever told you that you possess the most extraordinary power?"

"To seduce?" she suggested with a cheeky smile. "I don't have a clue when it comes to that."

"Would you like a few pointers?"

"Sooner rather than later," she said.