Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Ranulf obviously didn’t know Sephie very well—lusting after her from afar for the past two weeks and doing everything he could to resist that pull for the same amount of time, didn’t count—but for the past few minutes, he had been able to sense her increasing distress.
Caused, he felt sure, by whoever had written the letter.
Persephone…
How apt that she should have been named for the goddess of spring and new beginnings, because Ranulf could no longer deny that she was his fated human mate.
To him, her voice sounded like a perfectly tuned wind chime.
Her beauty, including her pink hair and that delicious smattering of freckles across her nose, was breathtaking.
Just as her pillowy soft lips and her luscious curves cried out for Ranulf to explore and possess them for his own.
As for her scent of strawberries… He now realized why they had long been his favorite fruit.
His mate was absolute perfection.
From the top of the inadequate woolen hat on her head to the sodden boots on her feet.
The hat, puffy coat, and fashionable boots might be suitable for an afternoon shopping in London or Edinburgh, but they certainly weren’t sufficient for winter in the Scottish Highlands, where the snow season ran typically from November to April, with heavier falls during December and January.
This December and January, the snow had fallen even more often and deeper than usual.
“You’re cold,” he voiced his concern when he saw Sephie shiver. “Come here.” He opened up his leather jacket before reaching out to grasp the tops of her arms. He pulled her in tightly against him before then wrapping the two sides of his jacket completely around her.
Her scent instantly filled his senses. Her soft curves fit perfectly against his much harder ones. Her head nestled beneath his chin as she instantly burrowed into the warmth of his chest, and her arms wrapped tightly about his waist.
“God, you feel so good.” Her cheeks were flushed when she looked up at him.
“What I meant to say was you feel lovely and warm. Yes, warm,” she repeated firmly.
“So warm, I think I could live inside your coat forever.” She winced.
“Could you possibly put anything I just said down to my having brain freeze from this fricking weather?”
His mate was also funny.
Adding to her perfection.
“I am more than happy to continue listening to any words of approval you might have for me,” he assured gruffly.
He might be, but Sephie was mortified at the depth of her oversharing.
Ranulf did feel good. Very Good.
And she probably could live cuddled in the warmth of his jacket and nestled against his chest for the rest of her life.
But she shouldn’t have told him that when they had only introduced themselves to each other minutes ago.
Minutes ago!
Precious minutes, when she should have continued to insist Ranulf read the letter before he gave her an answer, so she could relay it back to the man holding her parents hostage.
She had no certainty about what was written in this letter. She only knew what the consequences would be if she didn’t ensure Ranulf Drake took those contents seriously.
“He has a gun and is keeping my parents prisoner,” she murmured urgently against Ranulf’s chest.
His arms tightened. “Who is?” he prompted just as softly.
“He said his name was Edward Walker when he arrived at the inn last night, asking for a room, but I doubt that’s his real name.
” She released a shaky breath. “As it’s my parents’ first year in the village, and they are still getting used to everything, they had decided not to let any rooms over Christmas and New Year.
But then last night, this man just walked out of the dark and into the inn.
The snow had started to fall again after a bit of a hiatus, and he was soaking wet.
He seemed so desperate, and his manner was warm and friendly.
” She shook her head at how mistaken they had all been about the man and his intentions.
“That whole thing was a ruse,” she added bitterly.
“He now has my father tied up and my mother locked in the cellar.”
Ranulf frowned. “I didn’t see any unfamiliar forms of transport when I walked through the village just now, so how did he get here?”
“He said his car had broken down half a mile from the village and he’d walked— What’s funny?” she prompted when she felt the vibration of Ranulf’s massive chest against her cheek.
“I was merely thinking how unoriginal he is.” Ranulf sobered. “My brother used that same excuse to gain access to Edgar Wallis’s home when he…visited him in Cornwall.”
“Edgar Wallis?”
“I believe that is the man’s real name.”
“He told my dad his name is Edward Walker and that he’s from Yorkshire. Although he doesn’t have an accent,” she realized with a frown.
“Is he about five feet ten inches tall, has a slender frame, cold gray eyes, wears glasses, and looks like he could be a university professor?”
“Yes…”
Ranulf nodded. “Then his real name is Edgar Wallis, and his main residence is in Cornwall. He was a lawyer but is now retired. There was a couple of hours’ break in the storm last night,” he murmured as he looked up at the snow-filled sky.
“I believe he took advantage of that to arrive by helicopter, not car, and the reason he’s here at all is that he’s a hunter. ”
She frowned. “I doubt he’s going to find too many deer or pheasant in this weather.”
His mouth twisted. “He isn’t hunting deer or pheasants.”
“Then what is he hunting?”
“My brothers and me,” Ranulf revealed grimly. “At least, something we have that he wants for himself.”
Sephie pulled back to look at him. “I don’t understand…”
“We’ll talk about that again another time,” he dismissed. “When this man doesn’t have a gun pointed at your parents to make you do his bidding.”
Sephie began to shake again. “I probably shouldn’t have told you any of that.” She turned to give another anxious glance in the direction of the inn.
“Explain, please.”
“He told me to just deliver the letter, wait for you to give me an answer, and then return immediately to the inn.”
“Which you’ve partly done.”
“It’s the part I haven’t yet done that will probably result in him making even more threats.
” She shuddered. “I can’t believe this is happening.
He seemed so normal when he arrived last night.
Boringly so. He chatted pleasantly enough as I took him upstairs and showed him to his room— What is it?
” she prompted urgently when Ranulf’s chest vibrated again, this time with what sounded like a growl.
His nostrils flared. “You were alone in a bedroom with him?”
She frowned her confusion with the anger she could hear in his voice. “Only long enough to show him the adjoining bathroom and hand over the key card.”
“Too long,” Ranulf grated, his arms tightening about her waist. “He deserves to die for that alone.”
“Die…? But—” Sephie once again looked up at him in alarm. She gave a gasp when she saw the now undeniable silver flames swirling in the depths of those dark green eyes. She had never seen anything like it before. “Who are you…?”
“Ranulf Drake.”
“I already know your name,” she dismissed impatiently. “I want to know what you are?”
* * *
Ranulf couldn’t help but admire the astuteness of his mate’s question.
A question he knew had an answer he probably shouldn’t share with his fated mate just yet.
It seemed to him that Sephie had enough anxiety in her life right now, with Edgar Wallis currently staying at her family’s inn and making threats to her parents if she didn’t comply with his instructions.
Ranulf was furious with himself for not picking up the man’s scent when he walked to the village shop earlier. But the heavy snowfall overnight would have covered any of Wallis’s tracks from the previous night, along with his scent.
A scent that was completely overshadowed by Sephie’s aroma of strawberries anyway.
Ranulf wished he could explain all that to Sephie, but it was the wrong time to do so when her parents were in danger.
She was also different from Belle and Zoey.
Belle, because she was studying mythology at university, including dragons.
Zoey, because Wallis was her guardian, and she was well aware of his obsession with what she had once believed were mythical creatures.
She knew differently now!
Sephie had probably never even thought about the existence of dragons, beyond what was written about them in fairy tales, let alone that she might be the fated mate of one.
Ranulf’s mate, to be exact.
Holding her in his arms, feeling the warmth of her body pressed against him, and breathing in her unique perfume, filled Ranulf with inexplicable pleasure along with deep anxiety.
The pleasure of finally being able to touch and hold her was immense.
The anxiety because he could no longer deny that he wouldn’t want to live if he didn’t have this woman by his side.
But explaining dragon shifters to her right now, when she already had so much to distress her, wasn’t an option. “We can talk about that when we have more time.”
“No—”
“Sephie, right now, we need to concentrate on rescuing your parents,” he insisted. “Where is Wallis holding them captive?”
“As I said, he put Mum in the cellar and Dad is tied to a chair in the bar. They’re both still wearing only their nightclothes, so they’re probably cold,” she added with a worried frown.
“He took them in the night?”
“Dad told me he entered their bedroom early this morning, when they were both still asleep. He was pointing a gun at them to ensure they did what he said. Dad seems okay for the moment, but it’s bloody cold down in the cellar, let me tell you.
” She shivered. “I didn’t know any of this until I came down for breakfast and discovered my Dad tied up and this man you call Edgar Wallis taking great delight in pointing a gun at me,” she recalled with a shudder.
“That bastard dared to point a gun at you?” Ranulf roared, his vision suddenly edged with red. “I’ll kill him! I’ll rip him apart until nothing of him exists except scattered body parts and blood-soaked snow—”
“Ranulf!” Sephie cried, her expression one of horror at his descriptive words.
He swallowed, taking a few seconds to rein back his fury. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”
“More than a bit,” she agreed as she pulled out of his arms and stepped away. “Did you mean it?”
It was impossible for a dragon shifter to lie to his fated mate. “Yes.”
She drew in a deep breath. “Then I repeat, what are you, and what possible reason could this man Wallis have for hunting you and your brothers?”