Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

CONSEQUENCES

Kate's smile was as broad as it was hollow when she asked, "This is a victory, right?"

Her question tugged at something deep inside him. "You did something very brave. And you saved my life."

"I made a choice," she admitted. "I couldn't risk that creature destroying anyone else."

And I had to save you.

He read this in her eyes. "Irrespective of motive, you put my life before yours."

"And my father was killed. I killed him. Don't make excuses for me."

"You saved the world from a monster, but whatever your father might have been, the loss of a parent is still a shock. Some form of grief is normal."

"It's not normal to grieve for a monster," Kate argued stubbornly. "How does grieving for the creature that terrorized my mother honor her memory?"

"Your feelings are conflicted. That's only natural. You feel guilt, but also relief that he's gone for good. That's a burden lifted, Kate, for you and everyone else you care about on Earth. Don't beat yourself up. A bond exists between parent and child whether either party wants it or not."

"I know you're trying to be kind," she said, "but how can I care about a creature who was so cruel? It is a shock that he's gone," she conceded, "but it doesn't change who I am or how I feel. It only drives the truth home. I'm half vampire, Torran. You know what that means. I care for you—too much, maybe, but we can never be together."

Shaking his head in bemusement, he stared down at Kate. "For an enemy, you were quick to save my life. You're not a half-breed suspended between two worlds. You're you. What type of chieftain and dragon overlord would I be if I saw a distinction between one world and another or one being and another? I'd be small-minded with narrow horizons—no use to man, woman, or beast."

"Or dragon," Kate observed with a faint smile as they continued on to the castle side by side.

"Lots of people feel as I do and share the same thoughts."

"More still are bigoted and full of hate," Kate argued.

"You can't know that for sure. All that matters is that we tread our own path and do so with integrity."

"And try to bring all our different kinds together? Are we wasting our time when it comes to that?"

"Don't be so cynical. It's a worthy goal and one worth fighting for."

Their hands brushed as they walked along, but Kate was still confused, and he didn't want to rush her through this stage of change. "I'm not best placed to talk about feelings, but I do believe most people want peace and to live in a world where they're not judged by where they came from. I didn't want this role. When I first became laird and a dragon overlord, I was too busy making vast sums of money to spare time for anything else. It seemed to me back then that I could be of more use funding schemes on Earth and paying lip service to my dragon shifter heritage."

"What changed your mind?"

"My parents. Remembering how they'd fought for freedom all their lives, and their deep love for each other as well as for their very different worlds."

Kate's thoughts were an open book to him. He could feel her warmth and compassion as they both remembered mothers who had left such a powerful legacy of love.

"I'm sure you'd rather not talk about loss," she said with an apologetic glance. "And I'd love to hear more about becoming the laird—the dragon overlord?"

He could feel her pulling away from recent events, and for now, that was the best thing she could do. "Are you working? Is this for your article?"

"I'm trying to get to know you. After all we've been through, I want to understand you."

"I'm not sure there's anything to understand."

"Apart from you doing your best to eliminate emotion from your life."

"Emotion is an unnecessary indulgence."

"Yet you speak about your parents with great love."

"They tasked me with a greater purpose."

"Did they? Is there a greater purpose than love? Wouldn't they want you to experience the same love they were lucky enough to share?"

"Bringing peace to my kind? Are you saying that's wrong?"

"No. But what about your peace of mind? Aren't you entitled to be happy?"

"Go write your article," he advised when they reached the castle gates. "I'm sure you'll find a way to explain the storms without losing the excitement."

"Excitement?" Kate repeated, staring at him in bemusement. "I'm sure I can write the article, but can't we…?"

"No," he said, reading her longing to talk deep into the night, to make sense of everything and each other. "We can't." There was no point progressing a relationship that could only put Kate in danger. "But I do have an idea for you."

"An idea?" she prompted.

"You have first-hand knowledge of losing your parents and the conflicting emotions you experienced. I think you'll be shocked by how many people can relate to that."

"But that's not storm-chasing. That's another topic altogether."

"There's more than one type of storm."

She stopped to think about this. "You may have something," she finally admitted. "But I'm not even sure I want to be a journalist after coming here. We've been to hell and back, quite literally, but I don't think I can go home to sit behind a desk writing articles."

"You want to stay here and help out?" he guessed.

"Is that so wrong?"

"Not wrong, just…"

"Inconvenient?" Kate suggested. "Are you hiding from emotion again?"

"No. I'm shielding you from danger."

"I think we both know I can fight my corner," Kate argued. "I think you're still frightened of loss. The bravest man I know is even more afraid of that than I am."

Kate's upturned face affected him more than he could safely express, but he ground his jaw and said nothing when she added, "You won't fight to keep me because, fierce as you are in battle, when it comes to risking your heart, you're a coward, Torran Kildear."

And with that, she stalked off.

Losing a battle, even a verbal battle, was not in Torran's DNA. He found Kate in her suite, throwing her belongings into a suitcase. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing?" Glancing at her suitcase, Kate exclaimed with a frown. "I'm leaving before I damage your fragile psyche."

"Meaning?" he challenged.

"Are you saying you care enough to stop me?"

But he did care, and that was the problem. The thought of losing Kate had never occurred to him before. They had fought alongside each other. She had witnessed his transformation and ridden on his back. They had experienced another dimension together. Did that mean nothing to Kate? "You should have warned me what you planned to do."

"I didn't plan. You made this happen."

"Me?" he protested.

"With your constant concern for my safety when it's obvious I can take care of myself—as well as you," she reminded him angrily.

Kate's decision to leave was a significant change from him wanting to send her away for her own good. "Don't you think you're being a little hasty?"

"You want me to hang around to discover if you can do more than fight alongside me and have sex with me? How long should I put on that? A day, a week, a year, longer? I can read you, Torran. I know what you're thinking. Send me back to London to write my articles—until you need me again. Your tame journalist, composing pieces to order, sucking you off to order, opening my legs to order?—"

"Stop it!" he roared, wrapping his arms around her. "I can't bear to hear you speak like this. I understand that you're upset, but don't unpick all the progress we've made."

"All the progress you've made, don't you mean?" she fired back, breaking free.

"We rid the Earth of a vampire army?—"

"For now," she cut in.

"Yes, for now," he agreed, cupping the back of his neck with frustration. "There will always be a new enemy, a new uprising, but?—"

"But you thought that on the one hand, I'd be at your side, while on the other, you decided I'd be better off back home, writing articles to order."

"You would be safer… And happier," he added with less conviction.

"Oh, I see, you've decided," she said, slamming the lid down on her suitcase. "Not only are you the laird and a dragon shifter, but you're also the archangel of happiness, deciding who should benefit from your bounty. Well, you can stuff that. I'm going."

He tried to make light of her fury.

"Don't you dare try to humor me," she warned.

Raising a brow, he waited.

Kate shook her head. "Give me one good reason to stay."

"How can I do that when I think you should go?" As Kate leveled a cold stare on his face, he added, "But I would like you to stay."

"Finally," she exclaimed. "But I won't be taken for granted or write articles to order… however you have planted one seed in my mind that seems to have taken root," she reflected out loud.

"A relationship column for the magazine?"

"Why not?" Kate queried, eyes firing with enthusiasm. "We're both such experts at relationships," she mocked, "what could possibly go wrong? But I'll still need a very good reason to even think about staying for one more day."

"Only one?" he murmured.

Kate closed her eyes as if that could stop the feelings bombarding her. "I mean it!" she insisted.

But everything in her spoke of heat and need and the deepest possible longing to feel his arms around her.

"You want sex now?" she exclaimed, misreading his concern. "Incredible!"

Losing it completely, she pummeled him with tiny, ineffective fists. Capturing her wrists in one hand, he held her still and brought his face close. "I don't want you to leave, but we both know that it would be safer for you if we?—"

"Do we? Do we know that?" Kate fired back. "Are you telling me that you still want your tame journalist, but at a safe distance?"

"Safe for you," he emphasized.

Kate gave an angry huff. "You're beyond belief!"

"Many would agree with you," he conceded dryly.

"Let me go!" she raged as he brought her close.

"No. If I really thought you wanted me to let you go, I'd?—"

"Still hold on to me," she guessed with a blazing stare into his eyes.

"Would you like me to let you go? Your body's telling me a different story."

"My body has a mind of its own," she dismissed. "I'm not yielding to a man who excels at sex, like an automaton programmed for pleasure, yet who freely confesses that, as far as he's concerned, emotion is an indulgence."

"Used to be," he murmured, and then his mouth tugged. "Do you know that your eyes turn a brighter shade of green when you're angry?"

Kate's expression darkened, but not with anger this time. There was only one answer. Ramming her up against the wall, he drove his mouth down on hers.

"That's one way of silencing me," she gasped when she came up for air.

"Here's another…" He kissed her again.

This time, she responded with matching fire. Releasing her wrists allowed Kate to lace her fingers through his hair, and as their kisses grew more heated, he dispensed with all the barriers dividing them. Lifting her, he thrust deep. Kate lost control immediately and cried out with her usual noisy exuberance, proving that, in this at least, he'd got it right.

"Again!"

He got the message loud and clear. Whatever else divided them, they were as one in this.

"Going or staying?" he asked when she quieted.

"I haven't decided. Perhaps I need more persuasion to stay?"

Later, having transferred from the wall to the floor and then on to the bedroom, Kate was snuggled close her naked body wrapped around his. "Dragons deserve more than endless battles," she observed. "Why not give them a chance to enjoy other things?"

"Like sex?"

"I think they've got that covered," she said, laughing softly. "I'm talking about things like sport, music and art, and fun too. Life can't be all about duty. You know what they say about Jack?—"

"Jack!" he exploded. "Who the fuck's Jack?"

Kate laughed again. "All work and no play?" She waited for a reaction. When she got nothing back, she added, "Makes Jack a dull boy?"

"Ah, the old saying. Are you suggesting I'm dull?"

"I'm saying lighten up, Torran. You're going to need all your powers in the coming days, because I've changed my mind about returning to London."

"Do you care how I feel about this?"

"I know how you feel," she assured him. He groaned as she touched him the way he loved. "But I'm going to tell you, anyway," Kate assured him. "You love it—you love this, you love having me here, and I don't think you want to lose me."

"I'm devoted to your loving heart and fighting spirit," he conceded with a shrug.

"And you've never known anyone you want to fuck more than me."

Lips pressing down, he was forced to admit, "Agreed."

Is that dragon-speak for ‘I love you'?" Kate gasped as he sank deep.

"As inconvenient as that might be for both of us, I think it must be."

"The feeling's mutual," Kate said as she angled herself for pleasure. "I think we're both ready to risk and feel and care?—"

"And fuck," he said, silencing her with a kiss.

"I love everything about you," he murmured later.

"Especially my body?" Kate suggested with a cheeky grin,

"I love all of you," he confessed.

She believed him, and her eyes shone with happiness. "I love you too," she whispered as he drew her close, and then their thoughts mixed and mingled, until finally, inevitably and forever, they were one.