Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
Sephie looked as if she was seconds away from turning and running away, Ranulf recognized in dismay.
From him.
For good reason, he acknowledged impatiently.
What he was saying, the fierce possessiveness of his reactions, would be completely alien to her. Frightening.
Whereas it seemed perfectly normal to Ranulf to want to kill any man who was ever alone in a bedroom with his mate.
Daring to point a gun at her had taken his fury to a whole other level.
So much so that Ranulf could feel his talons pressing against his skin, wanting to burst free so that he could annihilate Edgar Wallis in the exact manner he had just described so graphically.
When Ranulf was finished with Wallis, there wouldn’t be a single recognizable part of him left for anyone to identify.
Ranulf deflated at the realization that that probably would result in Sephie running away from him. Probably screaming as she did so.
“Are you and your brothers part of a criminal organization, but you steal gold and jewels rather than money? Ooh, or were the three of you involved in the recent heist of jewelry from the Louvre?” Her eyes glowed at the thought of it.
“No.” Ranulf burst that bubble.
“Then did you or your brothers steal something from Edgar Wallis?” Sephie pressed him, her stance and the lifting of her chin full of challenge.
Ranulf smiled inwardly, his dragon purring as they both recognized the strength of their mate’s character. Despite what he’d just said, Sephie was refusing to back down. As far as Ranulf was concerned, that made her a warrior in her own right.
“We believe his intention is to steal something from us,” Ranulf corrected.
“What?” She looked confused. “Was I right the first time, and you and your brothers are thieves, and you’re hiding your loot away in one of those hundreds of rooms you must have in your castle?”
Ranulf stilled. “You’ve been to Drake House?”
Color entered her cheeks, and her gaze no longer met his. “Yes.”
“And you saw it as a castle?”
She snorted. “What else would I see it as when that’s what it is?”
The fact that Sephie could see Drake Castle for exactly what it was only confirmed what Ranulf already knew: Sephie was his fated mate.
Mate, Ranulf’s dragon purred. Mine, he added proudly.
Ours, Ranulf corrected firmly.
Ours, his dragon agreed.
“We’re not thieves, and we didn’t steal anything from Wallis,” he answered her succinctly. “We are, however, very wealthy.” Their accumulated treasure was valued in the billions of pounds rather than millions.
“But surely you keep that wealth in a bank rather than under your mattress?”
“Why would I attempt to keep it under my mattress?”
“It’s just a saying, something people who don’t trust banks are reputed to do.”
“Ah.” He shook his head. “The majority of our wealth is not in pounds or dollars and so not stored in a bank account or vault.”
Ranulf and his brothers were convinced that Wallis was obsessed with finding them so he could steal some of the dragon treasure they had all accumulated over their thousand years of being on the earth. The man wouldn’t be able to carry more than a fraction of what they had stored away.
Their investigations into Wallis, since they’d learned of his existence, had revealed that Ben McGregor wasn’t the first person he had killed out of greed.
Years before Wallis carried out that horrendous deed, and while still working as a lawyer, he had arranged for the deaths of a wealthy married couple who were his clients.
After their deaths, with no close family on either side, their wills had revealed that Wallis was to become guardian to their young daughter and oversee the fortune left in trust for her. Wallis had promptly sent the daughter to boarding school and taken the fortune for himself.
Ranulf wasn’t about to share any of that with Sephie just yet. The last thing she needed right now was to know that Wallis was more than capable of shooting and killing both her parents if it suited his purpose to do so.
Not that Ranulf intended to let that happen. He might choose to spend his time avoiding humans, but he and his brothers still protected them whenever the need arose.
If we hadn’t helped Sister Agnes to escape being sacrificed by the villagers eight hundred years ago, we wouldn’t be in this current predicament, his dragon reminded him.
But Ranulf wouldn’t have now also met his beautiful mate, and the more time he spent with Sephie, the more he wanted and desired her, and the deeper his respect and admiration for her grew.
She was already a mate to be proud of.
She had also been studying him for the few brief minutes it had taken for these thoughts to go through Ranulf’s mind.
“I know what this is! You and your brothers really are dragons, and the treasure this man Wallis is seeking is the gold and jewels you have hidden inside the mountains behind your castle!”
Ranulf stilled. Was it possible—
Sephie huffed. “You should see your face! I don’t care where you keep the wealth Wallis is looking for, or what it is. My only concern is getting my mother and father safely away from that psychopath’s clutches.” Her expression had once again turned bleak.
Ranulf released an inward sigh of relief.
The last thing he wanted was to allow the focus to shift from keeping Sephie and her parents safe to what he and his brothers were.
Once they had achieved that, and dealt with Wallis, he would ensure Sephie had all the time she needed to come to terms with what he was and what she now was to him.
“I will make sure that happens,” he assured her. “But for now…” He unfolded the piece of paper he had removed from the envelope. The letter was brief.
The church at 10 o’clock tonight. Come alone or the Malcolm family will all die.
They would all die.
Not if Ranulf had anything to say about it, and he had a great deal.
He handed the letter to Sephie to read.
What Wallis didn’t seem to have taken into account was that a dragon shifter was never alone.
They were always two beings, symbiotic to each other.
He might arrive as Ranulf, but his dragon was always just below the skin and itching to come out and play.
Although his idea of “play” might be different from Wallis’s.
“The church?” Sephie frowned. “Why would he choose there rather than inviting you to the inn where he already has my parents tied up or locked away?”
He shrugged. “Maybe because it’s close and no one else will be there that time of night.”
The last time Ranulf had entered the church had been when he attended the funeral for young Ben McGregor shortly after the New Year.
He believed Wallis choosing that location to meet with Ranulf later tonight was a reminder of that, a warning, that the Drake brothers could shortly be attending three more funerals if he didn’t meet Wallis and do exactly as was told.
Ranulf doing the former was ironclad. The chances of the latter happening were exactly nil!
He had never shifted into his dragon anywhere near the village, knowing that there was no way to hide or explain away a thirty-foot-tall silver dragon with a wingspan to match. But that wouldn’t be the case at night, within the walls and vaulted ceiling of the church.
“What shall I tell him is your answer?” Sephie prompted, her face pale.
“Tell him yes.” Ranulf bent down slightly so that his face was almost level with hers. “When you get back to the inn, just tell him I agree, and then keep as far away from him as possible. I’m afraid you were right earlier when you described him as a psychopath.”
Sephie released a shaky breath. “Don’t worry, I don’t intend to be any closer to him than I have to.” She looked up at him for several seconds before moving up on the tips of her boots and kissing him quickly on the mouth.
Sending Ranulf into immediate shock. “What— You— What did you do that for?” He lifted one of his hands to gently touch where her lips had pressed against his.
“I don’t know.” A blush colored her cheeks as she stepped away from him. “But I’m not sorry I did.” She lifted her chin, challenge in her eyes as she met his surprised gaze for a few seconds more before turning and running back toward the inn.
Ranulf watched Sephie until she was safely out of the falling snow.
Although “safe” perhaps wasn’t the right word to use when his mate was returning to a situation where a dragon hunter was holding her and her parents captive.
Letting her go back to the psychotic cruelty of a man who had already killed to get this far in his search for dragons was the last thing Ranulf wanted to do.
But, despite disliking the noise and chaos of humans, he did know that their affection for each other was as genuine as his was for his brothers. As such, he knew there was no way Sephie would have forgiven him if he had gathered her up in his arms and prevented her from returning to the inn.
Ranulf would have done the same for his brothers.
He would do so much more than that for Sephie.
His lips still tingled from where she had unexpectedly kissed him, pleasure and lust coursing through his body.
Ours, his dragon said proudly.
Ours, Ranulf agreed with the same pride.
Not being any closer to Wallis than she had to be was out of Sephie’s control when he held her parents hostage, she acknowledged seconds after returning to the inn and being immediately punched hard in the face by Edgar Wallis.
Her father, tied to a chair with tape over his mouth, gave an agonized groan and pulled futilely against the rope about his wrists, obviously distressed at seeing Sephie so poorly treated.
The painful punch had been powerful enough to knock Sephie off her feet.
Blood now dripped down her chin, and the metallic taste of it told her that both her lip and the inside of her mouth were bleeding from the force of that blow.
Her vision, at first a jumble of images as she fell and then landed in this unusual position on the floor of the bar, was now blurred by the tears of pain she stubbornly refused to shed.
The shock of being hit at all kept her lying there as she stared up at Wallis in disbelief.
“What the fuck did you think you were doing?” he demanded furiously.
She swallowed. “I did as you asked—”
“I told you to give Drake the letter, wait for his answer, then return here. I didn’t tell you to cozy up to the bastard and then kiss him!” He was so incensed that he was almost frothing at the mouth.
“Ranulf was concerned—”
“I don’t care if he was crying and sniveling. At no time did I tell you to fucking cuddle and kiss him—”
“Ranulf wouldn’t cry or snivel for anyone!” she defended scornfully. “And I’ll kiss who I damn well please.”
Wallis’s mouth twisted as he looked down at her. “My God.” He gave a derisive huff seconds later. “You like him.”
Sephie glared. “I would like anyone who calls you out for exactly what you are.”
“And what is that?” The heated glitter in his eyes totally belied the mildness of his tone.
“A psychopath!”
She gasped as Wallis turned and this time punched her father in the face. The chair he was tied to rocked back on two legs before righting itself again, tears now streaming down her father’s bruised face.
Sephie scrambled to her feet. “You’re also a coward who first hits an unarmed woman and then a man who is tied up and unable to defend himself!”
“Do you have any idea how pathetic you sound?” Wallis mocked. “Besides, your insults don’t mean anything to me. I’m more interested in hearing Drake’s answer.”
Her jaw clenched. “He agreed to meet you in the church at ten o’clock.”
He nodded, as if there had never been any doubt in his mind that the answer would be anything else. “In that case, I have six hours to carry out the rest of my plan.”
“What plan?” she prompted cautiously.
He gave a grin. “That’s for me to know and for you to find out.”
“How old are you, ten?” she scoffed.
His lips remained curled in a smirk. “My age isn’t relevant to this situation when I’m clearly the one in control.”
Sephie wasn’t so sure about that. In fact, she was pretty sure that Ranulf, who, in her opinion, had capitulated far too easily to Wallis’s demand, was now and would always be the one in charge of any situation that involved him.