Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
A s Hayley sat and watched Nathan fiddle with one computer and then another, she did her best to tame her hair and smooth her clothes.
She hadn’t meant to break down in the hallway. However, being trapped again had made all those memories come rushing back from her childhood.
Memories of how she’d screamed and cried and pounded. Over and over again, until she grew hoarse and nearly lost her voice.
Of Nigel laughing and telling her she’d die in there.
Of all the minutes she sat alone in the dark, afraid no one would find her. And all because she’d simply tried to do the right thing.
Eventually her dad found her, and she’d never forget him opening the trunk and scooping her into his arms. Her father had always been reliable and solid and safe. And he’d believed her retelling of what had happened, too. Nigel was never welcome in their home again, and his family moved away.
It’d been so many years since she’d thought about any of that. Hayley had thought she’d moved past it.
But apparently, she hadn’t.
If not for Nathan, it could’ve been a lot worse. Maybe she’d still be sitting there, panicking, and unable to move. However, Nathan’s arms had been warm and safe, almost as if she trusted him to protect her.
Odd, considering she’d never felt that with any of her ex-boyfriends.
Not that Nathan was boyfriend material. Of course he wasn’t.
Besides, she wasn’t looking for a man. And more importantly, she and Nathan would constantly butt heads, even if he was attracted to her.
No, she could look and admire him—both for his tall, muscled self but also for his calm, intelligent demeanor—but that was it.
She eyed the dragonman, who was frowning again, as he studied a keyboard.
Him doing something and her just waiting around calmed her mind even more. Sitting still and doing nothing wasn’t her style. So she asked, “Is there anything I can do to help?” He started to shake his head, but she added, “Please, Nathan, give me something to do. Even if it’s just mentally cataloging everything in this room, I need some sort of distraction.”
He glanced at her, his pupils flashing, and asked, “How good are you at remembering things without writing them down?”
She sat a little taller in her chair. “Excellent. I don’t have an eidetic memory, but I can remember a lot. Otherwise, I’d never be able to win as many cases as I do.”
He grunted. “Then if you want to, you can see how many terminals there are in this room and note which ones have this kind of switch.”
She went over and peered at the red switch that looked like a small handle. “What does it do?”
“My hope is that they’re part of a firing-up sequence for the generator. Kai wouldn’t keep all of this equipment here if there wasn’t a way to power it.”
“Are you sure he knows all of this is here?”
“My guess is yes. Some of this stuff is quite new. Maybe installed in the last year or so. Some of the decade-old relics are probably decoys.”
“So you mean this room is a kind of puzzle?”
“I think so.”
Her eyes roamed the space. “Normally, I like puzzles. However, I’m not sure about this one. I can use computers for my job, but I sometimes click something I shouldn’t or accidentally open something that crashes the computer.”
The light from the candles was dim, but Hayley swore Nathan smiled. If so, she couldn’t hear it in his voice. “That’s more common than you think. But don’t worry, we each have our own skills and strengths. I can’t cook to save my life, let alone stay awake long enough to sort through records of any kind.”
“Are you trying to make me feel better?”
“Would you rather I made you feel worse?”
“Of course not, that’s ridiculous.”
“Right, then start looking for all the little red handles. I’m fairly confident this computer is the main one, where I can initiate the start-up sequence. However, I need to investigate a little more before I try anything, just in case there’s some sort of failsafe.”
“Which means if we do something wrong, we could be in the dark forever.”
She glanced at the candles and noticed they were significantly shorter than when Nathan had first lit them.
He appeared at her side. “There were more candles in the storage room. And if it’s the last thing I do, I vow to get us out of here.”
She searched his eyes. From what she knew about dragon-shifters, they took their vows quite seriously.
He asked, “Do you believe me?”
“I have no idea why, but yes.”
After gently touching her shoulder—and pulling away far too quickly for her liking—he turned back toward his project. “You can take the candles with you since I’ll be able to see well enough without them.”
“I’ll just take one of them.” She gently wiggled one out and paused. The light danced across Nathan’s jaw, cheekbones, and his Adam’s apple. She’d never thought a man’s Adam’s apple could be sexy, and yet it made Nathan appear so very…male.
She quickly turned and went searching for the little levers.
Nathan managed to block out Hayley’s movements for about a minute before he watched her covertly. She would bend over to study each terminal closely, putting her lovely, full arse on display. Then he’d think about lifting her skirt and taking her from behind as she moaned and cried out his name.
His dragon growled. We probably could have her. Kiss her, and then she could be ours.
No, dragon. She’s scared and rattled and most definitely not in her right mind. Besides, a kiss could trigger a frenzy, and she’ll have nowhere to run. I won’t force it on her.
Kiss her neck, her breasts, her inner thigh. Lap her sweet honey and then make her moan as she grips our hair with her fingers until she cries out in pleasure.
It was easy to imagine Hayley sitting on a desk, her legs spread, as he teased her hard little clit and made her come with his mouth.
He readjusted his hardening cock and focused back on the computer. Stop it.
I didn’t do anything. That was you.
We don’t even know her, not really. So no matter how many games you play, I won’t give in.
His beast huffed. You’ll change your mind eventually. She should be ours.
Tired of going in circles with his beast, Nathan constructed a mental maze and tossed his dragon inside it. With his mind quiet, he could finally focus on his work.
He’d just noticed a pattern etched on the keyboard when Hayley’s voice jolted him from his thoughts. “There are six levers in this room. They’re all different sizes, though. This one here in front of you is the biggest, and the rest of them go in this order.” She pointed them out and then added, “Using them in order is too easy and is a trick, isn’t it?”
“Most likely. I think the order is etched into this keyboard.”
The human leaned down, putting her face right next to his, and Nathan inhaled her sweet scent. Fuck, what he wouldn’t give to put his nose where her neck met her shoulder and get lost in the smell of her.
Hayley’s head moved, and her hair brushed his check. Nathan had to grip his knee under the desk to keep from touching her. His voice was strained to his own ears as he asked, “Do you see the pattern on the keyboard?”
“I think so.” She pointed to the different keys. “The faint marks get longer. They kind of match the layout of the room. I think.”
“Yes, you’re correct. Ready to try and see if executing the levers in this order works?”
He didn’t say if he was wrong, they might never get the power turned on.
No. He was confident. The start-up sequence wasn’t meant to be completely hidden, just not as easy as turning handles in ascending order of size. After all, if this place were truly used in an emergency, then the various clan members would need to power up the room quickly.
Hayley stood and nodded. “Your reasoning seems sound, so let’s give it a go.”
At her words, he straightened his shoulders a bit. For some reason, it mattered that she trusted him. His dragon would say why, but thankfully, his inner beast was still inside the mental maze.
After taking a deep breath, Nathan turned the switch in front of him.
Nothing happened, but he’d expected that. To be honest, nothing happening until after they turned the last switch was probably a good thing.
One by one he went, his heart rate kicking up with each passing minute. Then it came time to turn the final switch. He paused, hoped like hell he was right, and twisted it.
For a few beats, nothing happened. Then a low humming started before the lights flickered and turned on. The original computer terminal also powered up, and he let out a sigh of relief.
Hayley surprised him by hugging him and laughing. Her warm, soft body felt amazing next to his, and he couldn’t resist wrapping his arms around her.
She didn’t even blink an eye at them now hugging, and she said, “It worked, Nathan! It worked!”
Even though the rational thing was to push her away, he rubbed her back in slow circles and took a deep inhalation of her scent. “It did.”
She tilted her head back. “Now what?”
Now, I should kiss you.
But he pushed that thought aside. “I need to try accessing the system here and see if there’s a way to contact the outside world.”
“Of course. While you do that, I want to go check out the other rooms.”
He studied her closely. “Will you be all right?”
“I should be, now that I know I can turn on a light.”
Unable to resist, he lifted a hand and lightly traced her cheek. “Check in with me every fifteen minutes, just so I know you’re okay.”
As he continued to brush his finger up and down her cheek, Hayley’s breathing quickened and her pupils dilated slightly.
His inner dragon thrashed against the walls of his mental maze, but they held.
Still, the sound reminded him of what could happen if he actually kissed the human.
Human. He’d temporarily forgotten that Hayley was human, and he couldn’t do that again. She might say she was interested in dragon-shifters, but if his beast came out? And there was a frenzy? She’d run. Then he’d have to be locked up to protect her, for months and months, until his beast calmed down. It wasn’t something any dragon-shifter wanted to experience.
Especially since he’d already had one human run away from his dragon half, and that’d been without the intensity of a mate-claim frenzy.
After stepping away from Hayley, he cleared his throat. She blinked in confusion, but he ignored it. “Just check in with me every fifteen minutes. That way, we can share what we find and compare notes.”
She frowned, but then bobbed her head. “Sounds like a plan. I’ll do my best with the time, but my mobile battery is low and I don’t want to waste it keeping track of the time. I might need to invest in a watch after this.”
It would be so easy to tease her about losing the watch at every opportunity, or putting it on upside down, or a million other little things. But that kind of teasing was dangerous because he might start to like her.
No, the best thing was to put distance between them, and fast. “Right, then I’m going to get to work.”
He sat in front of the main computer terminal, ignored Hayley, and started investigating. His top priority was finding a way to contact Kai or Bram.
Because if he stayed alone with Hayley Beckett for too much longer, he might do something they’d both regret later.