Page 53 of Valor’s Flight (The New Protectorate #5)

Chapter Thirty-Three

The driver’s door popped open, spilling a snarling voice onto the otherwise quiet street. “—fucking useless. What’s the point of you? First you fuck up, and now you can’t even follow orders? We can’t waste anymore fucking time with— Oh.”

Alashiya’s spine went stiff as the dragon’s gaze fixed on her from over the hood of the SUV. He stood there, one huge fist clenched like he was a heartbeat away from slamming it down. She wondered if the hood would crumple under the force of it.

A chill swept through her as she watched his snarl melt into an easy smile. It was like a switch turning off. One minute he looked ready to wreck his own car, and the next he was looking at her like she’d made his day.

His wings had been held tight against his back, but now they lifted and raised a little, mantling around his shoulders like he needed to appear just a bit bigger.

His tail swept around his thigh to curl in the air.

She wasn’t sure when she’d learned it, but Alashiya recognized the posture as one of interest.

Shit shit shit.

Quickly turning back to Mike like she hadn’t seen the dragon at all, she rushed out, “I’ll swing by tomorrow afternoon, okay? Thanks again.”

She didn’t want to look like she was running away, fearing that would only draw more interest, but there really wasn’t anything for it. Alashiya hopped off the porch and moved at a swift clip around the cluttered yard. Her heart hammered as movement to her right caught her eye.

Don’t come over, she silently pleaded, heart hammering.

If she could make it to the trees, she could probably lose him. It would take her longer to get home if she had to go around town, but her only other option was to walk back the way she came, which put her directly in the dragon’s path.

“Shiya!”

She’d barely made it to the sidewalk before a clawed hand wrapped around her arm, halting her abruptly. Fear skittered down her spine as she was turned to face him.

The sun blazed behind him, casting his handsome face in shadow. She flinched, momentarily blinded by the glare. Smiling indulgently, the dragon lifted one wing a little higher, blocking the worst of the sun from her eyes.

“I was hoping I’d see you again.” His gaze raked over her, taking in her soft wrap dress and leather boots. She wished she’d worn a dress with long sleeves. Feeling his skin on her arm was unpleasant in a way that had nothing to do with his firm grip.

“Where are you off to, pretty thing?”

“I… I was just heading home.” She swallowed. Let me go. Please let me go.

The dragon’s grip softened, but he didn’t release her. His smile sharpened. “To a mate, I’m sure.”

“Oh, no,” she answered, hoping her voice didn’t come out too strangled — and if it did, he’d read it as general nervousness. Normally she would’ve told him yes, she had a fierce mate at home, and hoped it dulled his interest, but the thought of even hinting at Taevas’s presence made her wary.

Offering him a tight smile, she said, “I—I don’t have a husband.”

The words tasted like ash on her tongue, but they seemed to be exactly what the dragon wanted to hear. “Now, how’s that possible? The prettiest woman I’ve ever seen can’t possibly be unclaimed. I can’t believe it.”

I’m not, she thought reflexively. But that wasn’t exactly true, either.

Whatever she and Taevas were… Well, they hadn’t named it, and now that she knew exactly who she was dealing with, she was even less certain that it was anything permanent.

The leader of a territory and her? Not even her most outrageous fantasies were that deluded.

Not that she could explain any of that to this man.

Striving to sound normal, she replied, “Well, there’s not exactly a lot of options. You’ve met Monty.”

A flash of something dark crossed the dragon’s expression. “I have. I can’t say I enjoyed how he spoke to you. I’d never raise my voice at a woman. It really pisses me off when men pick on people weaker than them. And you’d have to be a monster to bully a nymph. Especially one as lovely as you.”

Alashiya’s gaze moved around his face to drift over the hard line of his shoulders and the rise of his mantled wings. Something about how he held himself made her instincts scream in alarm. She didn’t get the sense that she was in danger, but there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he was dangerous.

Dropping her gaze like she’d been truly flattered rather than alarmed, she demurred, “I’m nothing special. I’m sure where you come from there are thousands of more interesting women.”

The dragon’s thumb skimmed her arm. She watched his tail swing toward her, like he intended to wrap it around her thigh. Disgust tightened the muscles of her abdomen. Only Taevas is allowed to do that.

It stopped just short. The rattle at the end brushed the hem of her skirt when he murmured, “Quantity doesn’t mean quality.

And dragons have an eye for all things quality, pretty Shiya.

I knew you were special when I saw you, but I couldn’t believe it when I looked up your family name.

The Ardz line is older than mine — and that’s saying something.

Mine stretches back almost two thousand years. ”

He dipped his head, trying to meet her gaze. “Feels a bit like fate to have met such a treasure all the way out here.”

Fate? This dragon had no idea. Whatever mistakes had brought him to Birchdale paled in comparison to the series of miracles that had come together to unite Alashiya and Taevas.

She had no idea how to safely respond to that, so she held her tongue. The dragon seemed to take her silence as bashfulness. His expression turned very self-satisfied for a moment before he asked, “I am curious, though— Why does that smelly piece of shit hate you so much? What did you do to him?”

“I…” Her brows drew together. “I don’t think he really hates me.”

The dragon leaned in close, until she could almost feel his breath on her ear. “Oh, he hates you. I know it when I see it. That old man wants to get his hands on you and make you hurt. I’m gonna handle that for you, all right? Once my business is done here, you won’t have to worry about him again.”

Her stomach turned when he pulled back enough to give her a look that said he was about to do her a big favor. “Nothing pisses me off as much as men who go after vulnerable women. And you don’t have a mate looking out for you. I can’t let that stand.”

The sense that she was in an increasingly dangerous position increased. She didn’t particularly care if the dragon went after Monty, but she didn’t like the assessing gaze he leveled her way.

“Monty just wants my land for his business,” she explained, trying to divert his attention away from her.

“I refuse to give it to him. And if he wants more than that, then he’s out of luck.

One day he’s gonna die all alone out in those woods, and when the buzzards pick him clean, I hope they shit him out somewhere worse. ”

Surprise lit up the dragon’s face. He probably didn’t expect the real venom in her voice, but it was barely a hint of how deep her disdain for Monty went.

She didn’t often let herself dwell on it, knowing there was nothing to be done, but sometimes that old rage burned through her carefully crafted restraint.

“Well, damn,” he breathed. He dropped his hand, but not before he skimmed it all the way down the length of her arm. “The little princess has some claws. I like that. I’m Sergei, by the way. You ran out of the shop before I could introduce myself.”

Alashiya shuffled back half a step. “Ah… It’s nice to meet you, Sergei, but I should go.”

The dragon matched her movements smoothly, his wings rising until they curved over his shoulders just a little. A picture from an old botanical book flashed in her mind — a diagram of a Venus fly trap ready to snap up its unsuspecting prey.

His brow furrowed. “Did you walk into town on your own?”

“Uh, yes.”

“Do you normally?”

She cast a furtive glance at the trees. “Yes.”

The dragon pursed his lips. Appearing to make some decision, he jerked his chin toward his car, where three men stood like statues around the back bumper, vacant-eyed and unbothered by the heat of the sun.

Pitching his voice so they could hear him, he said, “Not anymore. I’ll drive you home.

You three— wait for me in the house. And don’t fucking touch anything. ”

All the blood drained from her cheeks. “That’s— It’s really not necessary. I like to walk.”

“It’s dangerous,” he shot back, a vein of ice in his otherwise friendly tone. “You don’t walk anywhere anymore, understood? Anything could happen to you on the road by yourself.”

There was nothing objectively wrong or threatening in what he said.

She’d taken rides from townsfolk before, and it was true that there were risks in venturing out by herself — which was why she stuck to the woods and not the roads.

But something in the proprietary way he spoke to her sent warning bells clanging in her mind.

It reminded her a little of Taevas’s bossiness, but instead of filling her with an exasperated sort of warmth, all she felt was dread.

A vice constricted around her lungs. This is bad, the hyphae whispered. Don’t linger.

She tried to gently laugh off his undisguised command. “I’m sure you have better things to do than drive some strange nymph around.”

“Safety comes first.” He gave her a slow smile.

“I need a break anyway, and I’d like to get to know you better.

So—” The dragon playfully tapped the back of her hand with the rattle at the end of his tail.

“You’re going to give me your phone number now, Shiya, and then I’m going to take you home.

I’ll be done with my business soon. You’re going to stay there until I come get you. ”

It felt like she’d stepped on an invisible snare. The urge to gnaw her own leg off to be free was a wild, awful thing in her chest.

“I don’t have a phone.”

Sergei made an exasperated face. “That’s inconvenient. I’ll get you a phone when I’m done with this stupid fucking ordeal. I’ll expect you to answer when I call.”

Running out of patience at last, Alashiya snapped, “No, thank you. I don’t want a phone. Or to spend time with you.”

“That’s about to change.”

“I really don’t think so—”

His pleasant expression didn’t move, but something in his body language made her jaw snap shut on its own.

“You’re a pretty, vulnerable treasure all on your own,” he told her, like he was pulling from a deep well of patience. “There’s more than just creeps like Monty in these woods, Shiya. There are big bad dragons, too. Trust me, you need a protector.”

He can’t mean Taevas. Please, gods, don’t be talking about Taevas. Hoping her voice would come out at least somewhat normal, she said, “Dragons don’t come to Birchdale.”

His expression darkened. “Some do. I did, and I’m plenty dangerous.”

“Well, I—”

“Have you ever met a dragon before?” he asked, tilting his head to one side.

Alashiya’s pulse was too loud in her ears. Yet another lie came easily to her. “No. Never.”

Gently nudging her toward the SUV, he muttered, “That’s too bad. You’ll have to learn on your feet, then.”