Chapter Nine
MARIUS
I strode down the hall and out the rear door into the fresh air. A dozen outdoor aromas washed over me — damp grass, woodsy oaks, and the faint whiff of freshly cut hay. But Mina’s rose-and-lilac scent clung stubbornly to me, pushing all that away.
Everything about her was like that — front and center in my senses, twenty-four seven — and I seesawed between hope and despair. Hope when she was close and the world seemed bright and sunny. Despair, because a bossy, stubborn woman was not entitled to mess with my heart, body, or soul.
But she did, and she had from day one.
I stomped along the outer wall of the west wing, keeping out of sight.
My shirt choked me, and my skin itched as my dragon fought to emerge.
Moving automatically, almost desperately, I tore off my jacket and dropped it.
My shirt followed, and I barely took the time to peek around the corner of the building before kicking off my boots, stripping out of my pants, and stepping into the open.
No humans there to see me, luckily. Not with Chateau Nocturne situated in the middle of nowhere.
I sprinted across the lawn, the first steps quiet on bare feet. The next few were stiff, somewhere between man and beast. The final steps were scratchy as dragon claws pounded over the earth, tearing tufts of grass. Then, whoosh! I launched myself into the air and beat my wings.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Every powerful thrust created a whirlwind that spun away in my wake. I opened my mouth, letting fire blaze forth. I even released a roar, albeit a stifled one. Flying in broad daylight was already risky. Flying and roaring at the top of my lungs was even worse.
Let everyone see, my dragon side thundered. Let them cower.
I hurtled over the forest, pursued by a dozen twisted emotions.
For years, my soul had been buried under a heap of mistakes and regrets, and peace was an abstract term. But Mina had reached into that mess on day one, like it needed to be mended along with her crumbling chateau. She’d been reeling me in ever since, and holding her last night…
I’d never, ever felt so at peace.
I’d only meant to carry her to bed and let her rest alone. But I hadn’t been able to resist sliding in beside her.
Just for a second, my dragon had promised.
Liar, liar.
I’d closed my eyes, but I couldn’t close my nose, and soon, I was drunk on her heavenly scent. So drunk, I’d fallen asleep.
My dragon side snorted. Real sleep. Real peace. That’s not drunk. That’s what normal feels like.
How the beast could claim to recognize normal, I didn’t know. I hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in years.
Which was pretty fucked up, because Mina had been hurt. But fucked up was my normal — and the number one reason I had no right to dream about her. Even if I wanted someone in my life, she wouldn’t want me.
Oh, she wants, all right, my dragon side rumbled.
I huffed. Even if she did, she knew better. She deserved better too.
Leaves blurred as I skimmed over the trees, trying to outrun…what exactly?
Outrunning inner demons was futile. Outrunning what Mina did to me was downright impossible. The faster I flew, the more she stuck with me.
She’s the one, something deep in my soul rumbled.
Well, I didn’t want one. I didn’t need one. I was fine on my own, keeping things simple and under control.
Sure. So under control, my dragon side scoffed. And so wonderfully peaceful.
The treetops formed a lumpy green carpet under a blanket of gray clouds, and soon, I spotted the spire of the town’s church ahead. I’d flown over it several times since my first day here, but only at night and at a great height.
Dipping a wing, I swung into a turn to stay over the forest. Really thick, unbroken forest, except for a razor-straight line to my right.
With a flick of my tail, I turned toward it, then adjusted course to fly directly over the tree-lined avenue leading to the chateau.
The woods had been trimmed back on either side to let those century-old oaks stand out — a single line of order in a world of chaos.
Beautiful, my dragon side sighed.
The road, trees, and forest were like one of those perspective paintings where all the elements converged on one point — the chateau. I flapped my wings a few more times, then angled them to glide silently over the chateau. No need to draw Mina’s attention now.
But my stupid heart thumped at the thought of it, and my dragon side preened.
Let her see. Let her admire.
The roofline of the chateau was broken up by windows and towers topped with spires. My heart rose a little at the sight, and a thrill went through me as I shot overhead. Then came a split second of open lawn with its cool updraft, and whoosh! Thick, leafy forest reclaimed the view under my wings.
Far to my right, the woods gave way to vineyards with parallel lines of grapes.
But I remained over the forest and circled through that loop again — over the trees, toward the church, then along the tree alley and over the chateau.
That time, however, I banked hard and flew over the entire length of the building.
Nice place, my dragon sighed, taking it in.
But man, did it need work. Roof tiles lay askew, gutters drooped, and paint peeled. I didn’t know whether to admire Mina for trying to manage it all or laugh her off as a fool.
She’s no fool, my dragon grumbled.
In terms of pure brains, definitely not. But when it came to common sense, I wasn’t so sure. After all, she’d let three shifters and a vampire into her home.
I eyed the attic windows on my next flyby, cursing Henrik the whole time. A damn good thing I’d been out flying our first night here, when he’d snooped over to Mina’s side of the house. Sensing something awry, I’d sprinted into a low, blasting flyover to warn him away.
My woman! my dragon had nearly roared in wrath.
I’d barely bitten the sound back, not wanting to spook Mina.
But man, had I spooked myself with that out-of-nowhere urge to protect.
I would have burned the roof off the house if Henrik had made a move toward Mina, but he’d stopped. Not solely because of my warning, however. Something else had surprised him at about the same time. One of the other guys, maybe?
My dragon growled. If one of the other guys is after Mina, he’s dead.
I frowned at the word choice. I wasn’t after Mina, and I never would be. I just had to figure out how to…to…
I struggled to fill in the blank. To get her out of my mind? My heart?
Too late, my dragon rumbled.
All that flashed through my mind in the seconds it took to fly along the chateau. Then I was soaring over the forest, washed by a thousand earthy scents from below. Damp, musky moss. Peaty bark. Fresh leaves, musty fungi…and something else.
My chin jerked down, because something didn’t fit.
I craned my neck to inspect the ground, then whirled around for another pass.
The third time around, I cursed. A dragon’s-eye view of the world had its advantages, but it didn’t come with X-ray vision to peer through foliage.
What I really needed was to inspect the area on foot.
Or get Bene to, my dragon decided. Better yet, Roux.
The tiger shifter might be an uptight asswad, but he wasn’t bad at heart. Of course, he had punched Mina — by accident, but still. I would love to send him on a mission through the forest, and if that patch turned out to be boggy, even better.
Asshole, my dragon grumbled, though the target that time was Henrik. Mina’s injury was as much his fault as Roux’s.
Send him through the bog, my dragon grumbled.
I flew over the area several times, failing to pinpoint anything amiss. But that feeling of trouble creeping over the horizon was hard to shake.
I flew back to the chateau, touched down, and shifted to human form. Then I pulled on my clothes and stood by the corner of the house, staring into the forest.
“Now, wouldn’t Gordon just love it if someone reported a dragon flying around in broad daylight?” Bene drawled, startling me.
I whirled to scowl back. “Good thing I don’t give a damn what Gordon thinks or knows.”
Bene snorted. “You give enough of a damn to be here.”
I scuffed the ground, acknowledging the truth.
Like Bene and the other guys, I’d made one big mistake, and the price of clearing my name was six months of working for Gordon.
The guy had worked himself to the very apex of Europe’s supernatural underworld, and what he said, went.
If he declared the four of us forgiven, rehabilitated, or whatever other spin he used to gloss things over, we would be clear.
If he didn’t, we were as good as dead.
And honestly, the thought hadn’t fazed me much — until now. Until Mina.
Now, something in me yearned to live. To start fresh.
“Yes, I give enough of a damn to be here,” I admitted. “Same as you.”
Bene gave me that look that said some lion wisdom was about to pour forth.
I’d met a lion or two who had wisdom to share, but Bene wasn’t one of them.
“Yes, same as me,” he agreed. “But I figure, why make it hard on myself? Why not look on the bright side of life?”
Because life didn’t have a bright side — not on the side of the tracks I was familiar with.
“The food is good, and we have space to roam,” Bene went on. “The rooms aren’t great, but I’ve had worse. And as for Mina…”
A low rumble built in my throat.
Bene grinned. “She might have a bee up her ass, but it’s a pretty great ass. Also, an entire week has gone by without Gordon putting us to work. If we’re lucky, he’ll forget about us, and in a few months, we’ll all be free.”
I scoffed. “Dream on. Gordon will have something for us soon.”
Silence reigned as we both considered what that something would be. Gordon hadn’t achieved pole position by playing nice. The only use he had for guys like us was to keep his hands clean of his dirtiest deeds.
Plus, Gordon had only contracted for us to stay with Mina for three months. Where might he ship us off to when our time here was up?