Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
An hour earlier…
I ended up keeping Oliver company after Davina left, the glass of scotch he offered just the thing to relax.
We started out sitting in companionable silence, but after a few sips, Oliver murmured, “Is it wise to bring Davina to see Nessie?”
“Probably not. However, better we go together than she hares off there on her own.”
Oliver grimaced. “Davina does seem like the type to ignore common sense when her curiosity is aroused.”
“And she’s not daunted by threats.”
“She says you keep claiming you’ll eat her.” Oliver chuckled.
“I should, it would be quicker than what Nessie might have planned.” Although, once again, the flesh I imagined eating wasn’t crunched between my teeth but pink and honey against my tongue.
Bad dragon!
“I wonder what Nessie’s foreseeing selkie told her that has her so determined to meet with the professor,” Oliver mused aloud, swirling the booze in his glass.
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. Nessie’s interest in humans these past few years hasn’t been kind.”
“It’s sad to see how she changed. She used to be so nice and cheerful.”
“I’m surprised it took this long for her to snap. I can’t imagine losing my wings and being forced to live eternally in a loch. If it happened to me, I’d probably misbehave, too, so someone would put me out of my misery,” I admitted softly.
“Speaking of misery, I’ve got a headache suddenly pounding.” Oliver grimaced.
“Happen often?” I asked with some concern. Not that I cared about his health, but it would be inconvenient having to find someone to replace him.
“No, hence my annoyance.”
“Will this affect your control on your beast?” Unlike most wulvers, Oliver had found a way to not live in a permanent half-man/half-wolf state.
“If I switched every time I felt pain, we likely wouldn’t be talking, as I’d have to abandon my life and live like a wild creature in the woods.”
“Just making sure.”
“More like making sure I won’t hurt your lady.”
“She’s not my lady,” I growled, even as a part of me silently yelled, Mine.
“If you say so, boss. See you in the morning.”
Oliver set off, and I remained sitting, nursing my glass of scotch, wondering what the morrow would bring.
I really dreaded the meeting with Nessie.
I couldn’t fathom any good coming from it, but at the same time, maybe I should give the other dragon a chance.
Sometimes epiphanies could happen. Look at me.
I’d gone from ruling as an arrogant dragonlord to being an arrogant recluse—and, yes, there was a distinction.
Just as I thought of going to bed, a faint creak of a floorboard from overhead drew my attention.
Probably just Davina visiting the bathroom.
However, given the issues with Nessie’s minions, I took no chance.
I rose and padded silently to the stairs for a listen.
Despite hearing nothing, my body tensed as if readying for a fight.
Apparently, it had better instinct than I did because, when Davina screamed, my legs immediately pumped. I bolted up the steps and dashed to her door, which stood wide open.
Even before I entered the room, I smelled Oliver, or should I say, his wulver.
The headache must have been worse than he’d let on if he’d lost control.
More than lost it, he appeared rabid as he snapped his teeth at Davina, who’d had the sense to put up her hands to try and hold him off.
But she wouldn’t be able to keep him from biting for long. Already, her arms trembled.
“Oliver Callum Donaldson.” I bellowed his full name, trying to snap him out of his ferocious state. However, there was no recognition in his gaze as his shaggy head swiveled. His eyes, usually an amber gold when he shifted, held a hint of red. A malevolent tint I’d never seen before.
“Naughty boy. There will be no dog treats for you,” I taunted, wanting to keep his attention on me.
It worked, since the wulver snarled and took a step in my direction.
And what did the dumb professor do?
“Don’t hurt Ollie. I’m sure he didn’t mean to frighten me.”
Oliver might not, but the wolfman did. Immediately, he whirled and threw himself at Davina, who yelped as a claw slashed across her chest.
The sight of blood staining the shirt she wore had me bellowing, “ENOUGH!” It should be noted, my commanding tone had power in it. A power that slammed into Oliver and froze him in place.
I stalked for him, growling, “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but it ends now. You will not harm Davina.”
The wulver chuffed.
“As a matter of fact, you will change back into your man form right this instant.” I poured more power into that order, pushing it at Oliver, something I’d not had to do in a long time. Not since he’d gotten control of his beast.
With a whimper, the wulver sank to its knees, shoulders hunched, head bowed. He knelt there quivering, and with each full-body tremor, hair receded, his shape changed, until only a bare-chested man remained.
“Oliver?” I said his name softly, and my lawyer—and, yes, goddammit, my friend—lifted his head, his expression stricken.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I couldn’t stop it from happening. It’s as if I had no control over my body.”
“It’s okay.” Davina proved quick to forgive, but I wanted answers.
“What triggered the change and attack? Was it the headache?”
Oliver grimaced. “I’m not entirely sure. It almost felt as if I got pushed out of my own mind. Became a passenger who could only watch, not control.”
At his explanation, I muttered, “Fucking Nessie.”
“Wait, you think she made Oliver attack?” Davina exclaimed, hands clasped to the bloody streak on her chest.
“I don’t think, I know she’s behind this.”
“I thought she could only do her mental tricks with the simple-minded?” Davina reminded. “Oliver is too smart, surely.”
“He is, and it shouldn’t have been possible unless….” I rubbed my chin.
“Unless what?” Davina huffed. “You can’t tease us like that.”
“Unless she somehow managed to find a way to override my usual protections,” Oliver replied. “Even in the early years of my curse, I always remained somewhat in control. Could prevent myself from attacking innocents. But tonight…” He paused. “I could do nothing but watch.”
“The question is how she managed to influence you,” I muttered. “It’s not as if you ran out to visit her.”
“Most definitely not, but I was smoking a pipe with a mixture she’d sent just before bed.”
“You were dumb enough to smoke weed given to you by Nessie?” I exclaimed.
“How was I to know she’d poison me?” Oliver huffed defensively. “The filling for my pipe arrived along with the bottle of scotch in a thank-you basket after I managed to debunk some water-penetrating radar findings that showed her swimming.”
“And how often does she usually send gifts?” I crossed my arms and fixed him with a stare.
“This would be the first since she turned moody,” Oliver’s sullen reply.
“Okay, so we know the method; however, I’m a little confused. Why would Nessie take over Oliver and try to kill me? What happened to bringing me to her?” Davina looked and sounded puzzled, understandable, given what happened.
“It would appear she wants you dead or alive, which probably doesn’t bode well for your prospects if you visit in person. I would advise you to cancel the meeting,” I suggested, knowing better than to try to give Davina an order.
“Oh no. I’m still going. I want to know what Nessie’s problem with me is.”
“Is this still about seeing the Jacobite Gold?” I snapped, annoyed at her stubbornness.
“Honestly, given everything that’s happened, I don’t give a damn about it anymore. However, I would like Nessie to stop sending monsters after me.” She glanced at Oliver, apology in her eyes. “Sorry, present company excluded, of course.”
“Don’t apologize. I’m surprised you’re even willing to be in the same room with me after what I tried to do.”
“That wasn’t you,” Davina reassured, being kinder than most in this situation.
Oliver scrubbed his face and, a second later, glanced down before groaning. “Apologies for my lack of attire.”
To her credit, Davina hadn’t looked or remarked upon his partial nakedness.
Unlike a dragon shift, Oliver managed to retain his sleep shorts.
Still, he did have a muscular chest that ladies would likely admire.
Not Davina, though. A good thing because my simmering annoyance at Oliver’s attack, combined with jealousy, might not have boded well.
When Oliver left, I addressed the next pressing concern. “Let’s take a look at your wound.”
“Oh, it’s just a scratch.”
“That’s bleeding rather copiously.”
Her eyes suddenly widened. “Am I going to become a wulver?”
“Depends. Did he bite you?”
She shook her head.
“It takes a certain amount of saliva or wulver blood, entering through a wound, to begin the change in your DNA.”
“Oh, that’s good to know. I don’t know that I’d have the right temperament to become a werewolf.”
“And what kind of temperament does that require?” I asked as I entered the attached bathing chamber to grab a cloth, which I soaked with water.
“One much more savage than mine, I would imagine. I can’t even bear to kill a spider.”
I snorted. “Guess having a sudden bloodlust and hunger for bunnies might be disconcerting.”
“I prefer my rabbit cooked, preferably in a stew,” was her prim reply as I returned with the wet cloth.
“Unbutton your shirt,” I ordered.
“I can clean the wound myself.” She held out her hand.
“I’m sure you can, but I need to see if it requires stitches or not, and knowing you, you’d likely lie.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because you won’t want to spend hours in an emergency room waiting your turn.”
“Fair point.” Her cheeks turned pink, and her fingers trembled as she undid the first button.
“You needn’t fear me.” I spoke softly, given her obvious trepidation.
“I’m not.” Her gaze flew to meet mine. “It’s just…” Her blush deepened. “I’m not in the habit of undressing in front of people I barely know.”
“You’ve seen me naked,” I pointed out.