Chapter 6
Chapter
Six
Exhaustion was etched into every one of Cassandra’s features.
After bandaging up her wounds and leaving enough time to ensure her attacker was dead and couldn’t be revived, he’d called the cops.
While he would have loved to keep the guy prisoner, take him back to the mansion and interrogate him, it would be quicker for the cops to ID him and then use that to get answers.
With Cassandra’s safety on the line, it wasn't the time to focus on an outlet for his rage.
They needed as much intel as they could gather as quickly as they could gather it.
Once they had a name to go with the man who had clearly been intending to abduct Cassandra and use her as leverage, Prey could start doing a deep dive into his background.
Somewhere in it would be a link to Dr. Gardner that they could use and exploit.
For now, though, he had to focus on the woman sitting beside him.
Paramedics had stitched the deeper wound in her calf and cleaned and bandaged both wounds.
She’d refused painkillers, and Dragon was pretty sure it was because she was afraid of being at a disadvantage if another attacker came after her.
It grated that she didn't have absolute faith in his ability to kill anything that presented itself as a threat, but he had to accept that he’d broken any trust between them when he’d refused to even listen to her warnings about their plan.
She’d been right.
Going after Rose was a mistake. One they might not have been able to come back from if Rose hadn't turned out to be the opposite of what they were expecting. Even though Cassandra hadn't been part of their team, she hadn't gone through what they had or grasped just how much they’d suffered at the hands of the crazed scientist, she’d earned her right to at least give her opinion because in the months she’d stayed with them, she’d become part of their family.
He'd denied her that, and he’d hurt her more deeply than he’d realized until he’d seen her again.
Was there any chance he could earn back that trust?
If he could, what did he intend to do with it?
Walk away again as soon as the threat was taken care of and he knew Cassandra was safe? Ask her out on a date? Figure out how to not be a monster so he could have some kind of future with Cassandra?
Hell, he didn’t know what was going to happen after, or what he even wanted to happen after, but he knew he didn't want to spend the rest of his life walking around with this ball of anxiety in his gut. Dragon needed Cassandra’s forgiveness, and at the very least, her friendship.
“Are we done?” he asked the older female cop who had been gently questioning Cassandra.
The woman shot him an annoyed frown, but nodded. “Yes, I think we have everything we need from Ms. Charleston. It was lucky you were here tonight, sir.”
It was.
If he’d stayed at the mansion with the others, Cassandra wouldn't have stood a chance of getting away from the intruder, no matter how hard she fought back, and he was proud as hell of her that she had kept her wits about her enough to fight.
“Chances are this was random, Ms. Charleston,” the other cop, a younger man inserted, and Dragon had to force himself not to rip out the man’s eyes for the way they appreciatively roamed Cassandra’s toned body.
“That’s likely true,” the older woman agreed, although again she looked annoyed at anyone else stepping in to speak, she seemed to like to run the show. “But without a door, and just to be safe, it might be a good idea to stay with someone else tonight. Do you have somewhere to go?”
“She’ll be staying with me,” he replied before Cassandra could say she’d go to one of her brothers’ houses. There was no way in hell he wasn't keeping her in his line of sight until he was positive she was going to be safe.
“All right then,” the woman agreed, and Dragon knew she wasn't pleased about that. The cop was annoyed that he hadn't handed over a name, but when he’d informed her he worked for Prey and that she could call and confirm he was operative Dragon, there was nothing she could do about it.
Still, it left him feeling uneasy to have more people know he existed, even if they had no way to track him down. Of course, people were aware of his existence, but they were either people from his past, people he worked with, people he was rescuing, or people he would kill, this felt different.
Cassandra’s grateful eyes shifting to meet his helped to ease that discomfort, and after taking the cops’ cards, they both bid them farewell. A crime scene unit would be coming out to collect evidence, but thanks to a triple murder on the other side of the city, that would be a while.
Long enough for him to get his little rabbit out of there. He didn't want any more eyes on her tonight, chances of any of these people being connected to Dr. Gardner were slim to none, but still, he couldn’t be positive.
“Pack a bag,” he told her once they were alone.
Wearily, she nodded, and he hated the dark circles under her eyes and the pain in her green depths. “Where are we going?”
“Motel.”
“Not one of my brothers’ houses?”
“Want to risk taking this to one of their homes?” It was a low blow because he knew how much she adored her big brothers, but apparently, it was a blow he was willing to make to ensure he got to keep her all to himself.
“No,” she answered softly, and without another word, headed upstairs to pack.
Sighing, Dragon hated hurting her, but he was selfish enough that he kept doing it. Not a great start to his plan to win back Cassandra’s trust.
Pulling out his phone, he dialed Steel’s number and waited.
Half expecting to catch the man in the middle of sex, because sex seemed to be pretty much all Steel and Rose were interested in, he was somewhat surprised when the call was answered on the first ring and his team leader sounded alert and focused.
“What happened?” Steel demanded.
“We have a problem,” he replied.
“She wasn't happy to see you?” Blade asked, tone teasing, and it reminded Dragon how much things seemed to be changing.
They never teased each other, they weren't light-hearted, they didn't laugh, they certainly didn't get obsessed with women to the point of needing a tattoo of their teeth etched onto her skin as a sort of claiming mark.
“She wasn't,” he confirmed. “Wasn't convinced that she was in danger either.”
“I sense a big but coming,” Thunder said.
“Huge but.” Gaze unable to move from the spot where Cassandra had been when he came in, Dragon pinched the bridge of his nose, willing it to release the scent of blood that had been clogging it since he first caught a whiff of it.
“I told her if she didn't want to come home with me, that I'd stay and watch over her here.
She didn't want me inside, so I stayed in my car. About two hours ago, I smelled blood.”
“Someone came to attack her,” Steel said harshly, not bothering to control his anger that Dr. Gardner would go after an innocent to get to them, even though they’d done the exact same thing with Rose.
“Is she okay?” Rose asked, and he could imagine her running her palms down Steel’s pecs in an effort to soothe him.
“Two stab wounds, but she’s lucky it wasn't worse,” he answered. “That’s not all, though.”
“What else?” Voodoo asked, and he was sure the medic wanted to get his hands on Cassandra and do his thing, take her pain and heal her, or whatever it was he did that made people who should be dead survive. Not that he was sure Voodoo himself knew how he did it.
“The intruder had a syringe with him. We can get Prey to run tests, but I’m pretty sure it was a sedative.” Dragon had pocketed the syringe before the cops got there, he didn't need them getting in the way of this.
“So, Cassandra is now officially a target,” Lion said.
Hating that but unable to deny it, he had no choice but to agree. “She is.”
“You're staying with her,” Steel said, a statement, not a question. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that he’d be sticking like glue to Cassandra until he was positive that she was no longer in any danger.
What happened after that, he had no idea.
Wanting Cassandra wasn't the same as agreeing it was a good thing for him to be part of her life. He was dangerous to her in so many ways, and not all of them had to do with the experimental drugs he’d been given.
Some of his faults he’d inherited the old-fashioned way.
Through his DNA.
January 5th
5:05 A.M.
Three hours ago, Cassandra had been standing right in the same exact spot she was right now, staring out her window at Dragon sitting watch over her house from his car.
Back then, all she’d had to worry about were the confusing feelings it stirred up to know that Dragon was looking out for her even when she didn't think there was any need for it. Being at war with herself wasn't fun, but she would definitely prefer it to fighting for her life.
In just a few hours, she’d been stabbed twice and watched a man die right in front of her. It shouldn’t make her queasy—after all, she’d killed before herself—and it didn't really, not in the sense that Dragon had killed someone. It was that he’d done it for her.
Sure, it was just one of many people he’d killed throughout his career, but this man had died because he’d broken into her house and come after her.
She didn't feel responsible for his death in that she felt bad, after all, the man had come with the intent of attacking her, then injecting her with a sedative and abducting her, but she worried about Dragon’s motivations.
Had he just killed because it was his instinct to kill any and all threats, or had it been more personal?
It seemed like a stupid thing to worry about, almost like splitting hairs.
The man was dead, Dragon had saved her, she was safe now, and she hadn't protested when Dragon told the cops she’d be with him, even though she knew for her emotional well-being she should insist she’d go to one of her brothers’ houses.