Page 22 of The Last Bachelor Dragon (Mysteries of Dragon’s Island #8)
CHAPTER 21
***MAX***
“ Y our wife, that can’t be, Nora is already engaged to be married,” Steven Price sputtered, then narrowed his eyes. “Maxwell St. Clair, I demand you explain yourself at once. That’s my daughter you were just kissing.”
“She’s my wife now. I can kiss her whenever I want, and there’s nothing you can do about it,” he said, enjoying the look on the other man’s face. “Go bully someone else, Nora is beyond your reach now.”
Anger made Steven Price’s face turn a bright shade of red. “Have you lost your mind?” he demanded. “Do you know who I am? Do you know what I could do to you?”
Max didn’t blink. “I could ask you those same questions,” he said. “Trust me, you wouldn’t want to know the answer.”
“Young man, I’m done playing games with you, step aside,” Nora’s father demanded. “I’m taking my daughter home so she can fulfill the promise she made. She’s going to marry the man I’ve chosen for her.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you, I didn’t make any promises, you did that,” Nora said, stepping out from behind him, her face scarlet with anger. “I’m not one of your possessions, Father, you can’t force me to marry someone I don’t want to. You don’t own me.”
“You mouthy little bitch, I’m tired of this attitude,” her father said. “I think it’s time to teach you a lesson about who is in control.”
Steven looked behind him at the guard standing at the ready. “I want her on the boat in five minutes,” he barked. “And don’t worry if she ends up with a few bruises, just don’t break the skin. The wedding is in six weeks, and I want her to look perfect by then.”
“I’d rather die than go with you,” Nora spat at her father, then walked over to him and got right in his face. “I have bad news for you, you’re not in control here. Try to touch one hair on my head, and you probably won’t live to see another day.”
Her father began to laugh. “Nice try, but I don’t see anyone stepping up to stop me,” Steven Price sneered at Nora. “It’s your choice; come along quietly, or we’ll take you by force, and let me remind you that if you fail to cooperate, I have ways to convince you. There’s a nice little hospital not far from home that would be a good place for you to have some quiet time to think about your choices in life. Your mother enjoyed her stay there immensely, that is, until she died.”
Nora gasped, then staggered back a couple of steps and Max was right there, putting his hands on her shoulders to steady her. “But you told me she left,” she said, her voice full of pain. “You told me she hated being a mother and ran away.”
“That was more convenient than the truth. After all, what child wants to be told their mother is in a mental institution,” her father said, with a shrug of his shoulders. “They tell me that she died with a picture of you two girls clutched in her hand.”
“You bastard, you’re a monster, I can’t believe that you’re my father,” Nora said. “You stole my mother from me. You took away the one person who might have loved me.”
“Your mother was not a good influence. I had to eliminate her,” Steven Price said. “I did you a favor if you want to know the truth. She was too headstrong for her own good. I thought that by removing her from your life, you wouldn’t pick up her bad ways, but I was wrong. Now I’m tired of all this talking. It’s time to leave. Be a good girl, and come along quietly.”
“You’ve got to be kidding, I’m not going anywhere. This is my home, and the people on this island are my family,” Nora said, lifting her chin up in the air. “You can’t touch me here, you can’t touch me anywhere, not now, not ever again.”
“We’ll see about that,” Steven Price said, nodding to his man. “Finish this. We need to get home and reassure Nora’s fiancé that everything is fine.”
Nora braced herself, then looked over her shoulder at Max. “Get rid of him, and I don’t care how you do it. The world would be better off without him in it,” she said, her voice completely calm. “I never want to see him again.”
When Nora stepped behind Max, he took a couple of steps toward Steven Price. “You heard my wife, she wants you off the island, and I’m just the man to see that happen,” he said, nodding to the men who had crept up behind Steven’s guard. “This is my island. You have no power here. I would suggest you walk away quietly now. Nora is staying right where she is. Your empty threats won’t work.”
“They’re not empty threats, I’m a very powerful man, I’ll have you both committed,” Nora’s father said, but he was beginning to look a little unsure of himself. “You wouldn’t dare touch me, I know your father. I’ll tell him what you’ve done. You’ll never get away with this. ”
“My father and I parted ways a long time ago. There’s nothing he can do to me,” he said. “Face it, Price, you lost. Now put your tail between your legs and get the hell off my island. I have bigger problems to worry about than you. Nora is mine now, and it’s going to stay that way.”
The guard started to advance on him. “Don’t even try it. It won’t end well for you,” he said. “I know that you’re only trying to do your job and I can respect that, but if you take one more step, you’ll be sorry.”
“What are you doing? Get my daughter now,” Steven Price screamed with the guard backed away. “This is what I paid you for, do your job.”
“You can have your money back,” the man said. “I quit.”
“Good choice,” Max said, smiling at him. “I’m going to have my men escort the two of you back to the marina. How you leave is your choice, but I would recommend getting back in your boat and going back to Bermuda on your own. You won’t like it if I have to take you back.”
***Nora***
Nora watched with amusement as the reality of his situation slowly dawned on her father, enjoying his growing discomfort as his men slowly edged away from him. When he finally turned and fled down the path that led to the other side of the island and the marina, she let out the breath she’d been holding. Max pulled her into his arms and held her tightly for a few seconds before barking orders that someone follow her father and make sure he left the island.
“And close off the harbor when you’re done,” he finished. “We should have done it hours ago.”
When he turned his attention back to her, she managed a shaky smile. “I have a bad feeling that won’t be the last we see of him,” she said. “I can’t believe he did that to my mother. I guess I should have known he lied to me about her, he always said I was too much like her.”
“There’s nothing your father can do to us,” Max said, stroking her cheek. “I’m sorry about your mom. That couldn’t have been easy to hear.”
Tears sprang to her eyes when she remembered her father’s words, and a deep ache formed deep inside her. “I missed out on so much because of him. I’ll never forgive him for what he did,” she said. “But at least I know that she loved me, that she didn’t abandon me to him.”
“We’ll get through this, Nora, I promise. I’ll be there for you every step of the way,” he said. “You’ve been through so much, but you’re a fighter, sweetheart. You’ll come out even stronger.”
“Only because I have you by my side,” she said, smiling up at him. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Then let’s never find out,” he said, grinning at her.
“That’s a deal,” she said, snuggling up to him. “Sometimes I just wish the world would go away and leave us alone.”
“Soon, I promise,” he said. “But now I have to go. It’s almost time for us to leave for the south shore.”
“Be careful,” she said, stretching up and kissing him. “I’ll be waiting right here for you, kick Adaloni’s butt and come back to me.”
“It will all be over in a few hours,” Max promised. “No one threatens a dragon shifter’s home and family and gets away with it.”
She reluctantly let him go a few minutes later, but she was soon surrounded by the seven other women. Together, they made their way to the dining tent, all somber as they walked, the weight of what would go on later that evening heavy on all of them. When dinner was over and the mess cleaned up, the eight women made their way to the beach and gathered around a fire to wait out the battle together .
“Is everyone as nervous as I am?” she finally asked. “I can’t stop wondering what’s going on. It’s driving me crazy to just sit here and wait.”
“The boys know what they’re doing; it comes naturally to them, they’ll all come out of this unharmed, but I’m a little nervous, too,” Eden said. “Maybe we should think about something else. It could still be a while before anything happens.”
It was hard to get the conversation going at first, but they were soon chatting away. The boys on the other side of the island had been forgotten for a while, and they all managed to relax a little. Eventually, the conversation died away, and they all sat in silence, listening to the waves rolling up onto the shore, lost in their own thoughts.
“Is this a private party, or can anyone join?” Carla asked, walking up to them with a plastic container in her hands. “I brought brownies; I thought you might all need a pick-me-up.”
“And I brought milk,” Marie said, appearing out of the darkness. “You can’t have one without the other.”
They enjoyed their snack, marveling at the brownies and dutifully drinking their milk while Marie distracted them with stories about the boys growing up. Before long, they were all laughing and relaxed again, but the moon had risen in the sky, and Nora knew that it wouldn’t be much longer before Adaloni made his move. Trying not to let her agitation show, she closed her eyes for a second, searching for some calm, only to have it broken by the sound of an explosion.
Opening her eyes, she looked around at the other women, trying to calm her pounding heart, fighting the urge to follow the sound across the island. “I guess it’s started,” she said into the silence that had fallen. “Now, all we can do is hope.”
The women gathered around the fire joined hands and closed their eyes, sending what help they could across the island, the love for the men who had saved them all radiating out from the circle. They stayed that way as the fire burned low and the moon slowly made its way across the sky, not knowing what was happening, but full of so much faith in the men they loved that the island stirred to life. Deep in the cave, the sparkling gem released wave after wave of power, fueling the magic of the eight dragon shifters as they prepared to defend the little piece of land that had become so important to them all.