Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
This was a bad idea.
Definitely not the way to get back in Cassandra’s good graces, yet as Dragon swept his tongue inside her mouth, he couldn’t seem to find the strength to care.
Laying eyes on Cassandra again was everything he’d wanted and everything he’d feared.
She was angry with him, he’d known that, but worse, he’d hurt her when he hadn't listened to her concerns that going after Rose wasn't the right move. That focusing all his energy on revenge and being prepared to go to any lengths to get it would only turn him into the monster he’d spent most of his life trying so hard not to become.
Hurting her hadn't been his intention, he just hadn't been able to see past his own goals.
Even after they’d abducted Rose and started torturing her, he’d held on longer than the rest of his team, refusing to allow himself to admit that using her was wrong. Because if he had to admit that, then he had to admit he’d lost Cassandra for nothing.
When small hands shoved hard at his chest, he finally pulled back, ending the kiss before he could take things further. Which he might have been unable to stop himself from doing. This woman clouded his judgment at a time when he needed to have a clear head.
“You can't just drag me back in here and then kiss me,” Cassandra snapped. Anger danced in her pretty green eyes, arousal too. Her body responded to his even though she didn't want it to.
There was no doubt that using that to his advantage would only fuel her depiction of him as a monster, but right now, standing in her presence, drowning in her sweet caramel scent, he was prepared to do anything he could to give himself the upper hand.
“We need to talk more about this woman who came up to you at the park last night,” he told her, taking a step back because if he didn't, he was pretty sure he was going to have her naked and beneath him before he could blink. While he was prepared to use Cassandra’s lingering attraction to him to his advantage, he wasn't going to rape her, which was what it would be because there was no way she was giving consent for anything right now.
“What is wrong with you?” Cassandra demanded, her eyes about bugging out of her head. “You hang up on me last night, then you just turn up here. You kiss me then you demand more intel.”
Instead of answering, he merely took a seat in a comfortable-looking armchair and waited for Cassandra to calm down.
She already knew he wasn't like normal people, he didn't have regular conversations. She’d lived at the mansion with him and his team for months, she should know by now what to expect from him.
After a tense couple of minutes of silence, Cassandra sighed and plopped down onto the couch. “Fine, if you're not going to be reasonable, let’s just get this over and done with so you can leave.”
Not going to happen, little rabbit.
Until I ascertain whether or not you're in danger I'm not going anywhere, so you’d better get used to seeing me around.
“I don’t have any additional intel to offer you. I told you what she said. I'm sure you accessed CCTV footage from cameras in the area, so you can probably try to use facial recognition software to ID her, which will tell you more about her than I could.”
They had accessed the footage already, but they hadn't been able to get a proper shot of the woman’s face that could be used to identify her.
They’d followed the car the woman had driven off in, but it hadn't had any plates on it, so they couldn’t trace it, and they had eventually lost track of it as it disappeared between cameras.
If she were smart, the mystery woman had a second vehicle stashed somewhere to make her getaway in.
“I don’t know who she is, and I'm sure you know more about what she was talking about than I do. Why are you really here?”
Beneath the anger and pain, Dragon could smell a note of something else.
Hope.
Cassandra was struggling, and she wanted to believe he was there for something more than just to get more intel out of her about the woman from last night.
Wanted to believe he was there just for her.
The thing was, he was there because he needed to be near her.
It had nothing to do with the mysterious woman, although he was concerned that someone had approached Cassandra to use her and could do so again.
This had just given him the excuse to do something he was too stubborn, too cowardly, to do on his own.
“We don’t know who she is, but she obviously works for a man who wants to abduct me and my team and keep experimenting on us,” he said slowly, wishing he had the guts to say what he really felt.
“If she wanted to hurt me, she would have done so last night.”
Fear soured his gut at the thought of her being injured when she was alone and so very vulnerable. “Maybe she didn't want to hurt you, but if she could connect the dots between us and you and go to you with a warning, then Dr. Gardner could connect those same dots.”
“So … what? You want me to move in with one of my brothers until you find this Dr. Gardner guy?” Cassandra asked, and he scented a hint of weariness in her.
Almost all her life, she and her family had been burdened with the weight of what had happened to their parents, then she’d had more and more piled on top of her, it was no wonder she wanted a break. To be free to live her life.
“I think you should come back and stay with us. That way, no one will be able to get to you.”
She actually laughed at that. Full on belly laugh like it was the funniest thing she’d ever heard. Grinding his teeth, Dragon waited for her to calm down, and when she wiped away a stray tear, he shot her a glare.
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” Cassandra announced. “I don’t want any part of your revenge plans.”
“She’s fine.” He huffed.
“Who is?”
“Rose. The woman we went after. Dr. Gardner’s little sister.
She’s helping us find her brother, she’s involved with Steel.
” Maybe if he could convince Cassandra that Rose was not in any danger, and that while they had started their plan to use her, it had all fallen apart when the feisty little redhead turned out to be nothing like they expected, then she’d stop hating him.
Knowing she viewed him as a monster, even though he himself did, left him with a hollow feeling inside he didn't know how to fill.
Brow furrowed, she looked at him quizzically. “You didn't go through with it after all?”
While he’d love to assuage her doubts about him, he couldn’t. “We did. We took her, but it didn't take long to realize we went about things the wrong way. Rose has forgiven all of us for what happened.”
“And this Rose woman is dating Steel?”
“He’s obsessed.”
“And she’s helping you find her brother, who is this Dr. Gardner person that the woman last night warned you about?”
“She is.”
“But you hurt her. Rose. You kidnapped her, and what?
Tortured her? I can't believe I'm even asking questions like that. How is this my life? How do I know people who would abduct someone they know is innocent and plan to torture them? How can I be attra—” Cassandra cut herself off and shot him another glare.
There was no need for her to finish the sentence, though. He knew what she’d been about to say. How could she be attracted to someone who would use and abuse an innocent person just to satisfy his own craving for revenge.
Attraction alone didn't give him much to work with if he wanted to … get Cassandra back? She’d never really been his to begin with.
Was that what he wanted, though? Did he want what Steel had found with Rose?
Did he want someone who didn't care that he was damaged, that he was no longer normal, that saw him anyway, the man who existed beneath the experiments that had been done to his body?
Dragon wasn't sure. All he knew was that he couldn’t stand Cassandra hating him, viewing him as nothing more than a monster.
“I'm not going to go and stay with you again,” Cassandra said, and from the stubborn jut of her chin, he knew that arguing with her would be pointless. She’d already made her mind up, but the thing was, he had too. At least about this.
“Then I’ll stay here,” he informed her.
“You are not staying in my home,” she all but screeched at him.
Shrugging, Dragon pushed to his feet. “Don’t need to stay inside your house to watch over you, little rabbit,” he told her as he strode across the living room and out the front door.
If Cassandra didn't want to come with him, and she wouldn't let him stay with her, then he’d simply sit in his car in the street to protect her.
Whatever it took, he wouldn't allow Dr. Gardner to lay a finger on the only good and pure thing he had in his life.
Even if that good and pure thing currently hated his guts.
January 5th
2:06 A.M.
This was crazy.
Why was Dragon still sitting in his car outside her house?
He’d been out there for hours. Hours. He hadn't budged, other than to knock on her door twice and ask if he could use the bathroom.
Cassandra had been tempted to tell him no, just so he would have to leave for a bit, but then the thought of him not being close by temporarily paralyzed her vocal cords, and all she could do was give a single nod.
She knew him well enough to know that when his big body brushed against hers as he walked past her, it was no accident. He wanted her to be affected by his presence, and she absolutely hated that her body was.
Her body.
Not her mind.
She was clinging to control of that with every drop of strength she possessed.
While of course she was glad that the guys had stopped their plan to use this Rose woman before things got taken too far, that didn't negate the fact that they had abducted the woman and hurt her in some way.
Nor did the fact that the woman had jumped sides and was now working with them, and apparently dating Steel.