20. Dragon #2
He turned and looked toward the elevator. That’s when I noticed the lines of men along the edge of the hall in front of the shadowy windows. They’d filled in while I’d been having such a pleasant conversation. And to think I’d been so in love with this guy.
The elevator dinged, and four guys dragged out Horse.
He was walking and looked around with those blue eyes, searching, hungry.
When he saw me, he jerked, and then we were the only two people in the world.
He looked at me like I was the fairy princess who had fed him magical fruit he’d never be able to live without.
And I looked at his orange tie. So grabbable.
I’d missed him so much. Every piece of him.
The way he talked, felt, and was. I missed his love and his intensity.
I missed his obsession with maternity shopping and stars.
“I love your pajamas,” he growled right away. “You’re so pretty. How are you so pretty?”
His words dropped into my heart like pennies in an empty cup. I was a beggar for his sweet words, and I wanted him to fill me with them.
“Your tie is really good,” I said, then flinched as Lucas swung a pipe across his face, sending him back into the men who held him.
“You don’t talk to her,” Lucas said, voice soft, but Horse was bleeding, stunned for a second.
He finally straightened, and I got to see the damage. It wasn’t as bad as it should have been. Thank God for his monster genetics. One cheek and eyebrow were split, but his blue eyes were undamaged as he stared at me, more intent than before. “You look so good. Perfect. Everything’s just fine.”
Lucas hit him again, but that time Horse twisted out of someone’s grasp to block the pipe with his forearm. That would leave a bruise. It should have broken the bone with the force Lucas used.
I glared at my ex. “You can’t beat him on your own. You rely on your employees. On your own, you’re nothing!”
Lucas smiled at me and then swung the pipe the opposite way, so fast, it took Horse across the other cheek, knocking him back.
“It’s true. VanBuren has exactly one weakness.
If you weren’t tied up with a knife at your throat, he wouldn’t be here, about to have a broken collarbone.
Then ribs. I really want to puncture a lung, but his ribs are so strong. Still, I think I can manage.
He swung twice while Horse was still knocked back, and the sound of broken bones had my stomach tangling and my hands clenching.
Horse was on his back, then rolled, trying to get to his knees. He looked up at me and smiled, blood staining his teeth, blood trailing from the corner of his mouth. “You’re so beautiful. I’m fine. Take a deep breath. Everything’s going to be…”
Lucas roared and then started smashing and smashing and smashing, completely berserk.
Gone was the smirk, the dialogue, the human, and in its place was pure violence and hatred, pouring onto my husband, who was still trying to tell me that it was fine.
Everything was okay. He was such a liar.
But maybe I didn’t hate liars as much as I’d thought.
Maybe I wanted Horse to tell me that everything was fine for the rest of my life.
Maybe I needed him as much as I wanted him.
My blood beat faster and hotter as I watched Horse on the ground, taking a beating without putting up much resistance.
“Fight!” I screamed. “Fight him. Fight all of them! You’re better than them! I love you!”
Heat exploded and everything became red-hot blood beating against my ears. I yanked my wrists and my hands came free, the chair spinning away as I beat with rage that had no end. If Horse was dying, I was taking the world with it. Lucas first of all.
“It’s okay,” Horse rumbled, voice thick as he choked on blood. “Calm down. Breathe, pretty princess. You’re so pretty.”
Janice was there with her knife. I melted it and then shoved the melted pieces into her chest, one movement that wasn’t connected to thoughts. She staggered back screaming, body convulsing.
I reached out a hand towards Lucas, sending trails of heat and death towards him. He held the pipe in his upraised hand and then turned to look at me. There was no fear, just hungry fascination. He wanted me to burn him. He wanted to taste my fire and melt in my rage.
“Yes,” he whispered. “Devour the world, Dragon. We will all burn together.”
A strong forearm was around his throat, and there was Horse, somehow on his feet, bleeding heavily, teeth clenched as his arms clamped around Lucas, strangling him.
His blue eyes were ice-cold, demanding that I see him, hear him, love him.
“We’re fine, Trixie. There’s nothing to get upset about.
You’re so pretty with those dragon wings.
But maybe the heat isn’t good for the baby.
And while it would be fun to melt this trash, you’ll probably burn me, too.
I don’t mind if you burn me, but then I can’t pick up the baby stuff in my car.
I have a big trunk. And I can take you to meet my dad.
I have a track around the estate. It’s a good track.
Maybe we can teach the baby to race on that track as well as on Patty’s.
” He grunted as he struggled to keep Lucas from escaping his grasp, his blue eyes brilliant in their intensity, never leaving mine for a second.
Like he’d never choose to leave me. “So pretty. Do you know if it’s a girl or a boy yet?
We should go find out. I love you so much.
I’ll always love you. There’s no end to how much I love you, the dragon, the woman, the one I’ll always need to rescue me. ”
Lucas threw himself back, but Horse hung on, keeping his arm there, locked around his throat. Lucas gurgled and thrashed, but Horse never looked away from me. His head tilted, and I saw my reflection in his eyes, gold lines like wings behind me as I hovered, ready to sear the world with my rage.
But that might hurt him. I’d never hurt my handsome husband, who always wanted to save me. Never.
The heat cut and I fell, landing awkwardly on the industrial carpet. My pajamas were crispy, baked with heat, crumbling. Because this situation needed to be weirder.
Horse gave me the sweetest smile in the entire world. “So pretty. My wife.”
The windows shattered, and the next thing I knew, my brothers were swinging in along with Jezabel and tons of other hooded people.
She flashed a knife and then walked over a freshly stabbed man, now howling on the floor, as she came towards me. She gave me a small smile. “I thought you were going nuclear, but I guess love conquers all.”
I climbed to my feet and put a hand on my stomach. “Do you want to explain all of this? You just let him beat my husband before you came in here?”
She put a hand on my shoulder and then pulled back, flaking my pajamas in her fingers.
“You had to save him. By not killing him. And everyone else. Happily, you married an excellent therapist who can talk you down from your rage. How lucky is that?” Her smile became manic, bright and over-shiny, like she was in the middle of a manic episode.
I pulled her into a rough hug, squeezing her as tight as I could.
For a long time she held her breath, probably considering whether or not she should stab me, but the angle would be awkward, so she grabbed me back in her own strangling hug.
I pulled back and stared into those fake brown eyes, holding her shoulders. “You risked Horse.”