A Dragon's Heart (4 page)

Drakk ignored the feeling in his stomach that told him he was never going to be able to let the woman go, how could he when she was a part of him? Damn it, she was fucking with his head already, he left the room they put her in and walked out to get fresh air.

Gandore came out and sighed loudly, this is what he did, he fixed the fights they had between them. The man was a peacemaker and had a way about him. Drakk really thought it was his power to calm people, but Gandore would never admit to it.

“Drakk…” he said slowly.

“Shut up,” Drakk growled. “I don’t need your psychoanalyzing me right now.”

“Boss, you need someone to knock you upside the head,” Gandore said. “That is beside the point though. What exactly are we supposed to be doing here? I mean, we escape, go to a nice comfy BB, and now we are in a cave, although it is nice, it is still a cave. What the fuck are we doing?”

Drakk sighed and looked at his friend. “I don’t know yet, the only thing I know is that I dreamed this woman could help us. We are going to have to figure out what the hell the humans want with us, because they are not going to stop looking for us. I can feel it. There is something more going on here, and we need to figure it out. They wanted to run tests, we cannot let that happen and we have kind of ignored the world for long enough.”

Gandore nodded and looked back into the cave. “This is pretty and, I am sure we can make it work for now, but there are a few other caves close, mind if we spread out a little?”

“Nah, that is what I figured,” Drakk said and then looked back out to the ocean. “You think they were right, about mates, I mean?”

Gandore laughed and looked at his leader. “You know better than I do about the tales of mating. However, I would assume the way you and Jex are acting, that you are going to have to figure it out quick. If the tales are true, you and he will go into the mating heat in the next few weeks.”

“I don’t have time for this shit, Jex can be her mate, and that should stop mine,” Drakk said.

“Not sure that is the way it works, boss.” Gandore frowned.

“Well it is going to,” Drakk said firmly and then stomped back into the cave.

*****

Aislinn opened one eye and then another and looked around. Where the hell was she? With a groan, she reached up and touched her head, expecting to feel a huge lump at least because of the headache that was plaguing her. There was nothing, damn it, she had not gotten drunk, she would totally have remembered that.

Slowly she sat up and took in her surroundings. She was in a lush bedroom. Hell, it had to be one of the five star hotels in New Orleans, it was amazing. The walls were cream colored but the soft pinks and blues that decorated the room was enough to make her think of an old Victorian home. The curtains were heavy and thick, pink with blue swirls through it. The white four-poster bed and matching furniture looked older, because of the intricate carvings on them. The comforter was thick and light blue with blue flowers, the room was beautiful.

“Ah, she is awake,” someone said and Aislinn tensed and looked at the doorway. Her eyes narrowed when she recognized the man. He had been in her shop with his other crazy friends, and although he was handsome, she knew he was crazy. Shit, she had been kidnapped by a lunatic.

“Yes,” Aislinn said slowly. She didn’t want to freak out too much; if he were unstable enough to kidnap her then he could kill her just as fast.

“Are you hungry?” he smiled at her.

“Oh no,”
don’t make eye contact
, she thought. “I could really use a phone though...uh…”

The man smiled again and nodded. “Jex, my name is Jex, yours is Aislinn, I already know. Going to have to wait on that, doll, first you need to eat, and then we need to talk with Drakk and the others.”

The others
? she thought and looked around the room. Where were the others? How the hell did he know her name? Damn it, she needed to think. If she was in a hotel, she stood a good chance of making enough noise to draw attention to her problem. There was no way they could hide a screaming woman.

“Well, Jex,” Aislinn said slowly again. “Maybe if I could just clean up then.” The bathroom, all of the fancy hotels had phones in the bathroom.

The man scratched his head and nodded then looked around. There was only one door in the room.
Wait, where was the bathroom
? she wondered and looked at the room again.

The man started muttering to himself and rolled his eyes, Aislinn pulled the covers back up to her chest.

“Duh, bathroom, why the hell is the no bathroom here,” the man said and turned in a circle.

He snapped his fingers and smiled then looked at her and wiggled his eyebrows. “Your wish is my command.”

“Huh?” she said slowly and then waited.

The man pointed to the wall across from the bed and smiled bigger. There was a door where there hadn’t been one. What was going on? Drugs, they had drugged her. Damn it, she knew she should never have been in the store by herself. Always have a co-worker, that was her rule, but Samantha called in sick. Shit. She needed to get out of there, and she needed a drug test to nail these bastards.

“Bathroom,” the man said proudly and Aislinn shook her head and then waited. He stood there for a few seconds and finally he laughed. “Yeah, I will let you get cleaned up, and then we can talk.”

Whatever
, she thought and waited while the man walked out of the room. Quickly she jumped from the bed and ran for the bathroom. When she threw open the door and saw the inside of the room, she paused and then groaned loudly when she saw the overdone luxurious bathroom, with no freaking phone. With a grunt she slammed the door and locked it, pissed she was left helpless and vulnerable.

“Now what?” she muttered to herself. Aislinn looked up at her reflection, jumping at what stared back. She looked worse than she did after a Tequila-all-nighter. Mascara ringed her eyes, taking on a keen resemblance of a raccoon. At this point, she was pretty sure even the raccoon would look better. Her hair stuck up around her face wildly as if she had endured an F5 tornado.
What the heck? How long was I out?
She knew she needed an escape plan, but so far, they weren’t holding her at gunpoint. There was no room for rash decisions.

She needed a solid plan to escape, which meant feeling out her captors and gaining information about her location. With a sigh, she stepped back, seeing the shower for the first time. It was almost bigger than her whole house! Showerheads were lined along all the walls, ceiling, and even the floor. It was like a human car wash!

Aislinn knew she needed to hatch a plan and feel out her captors, but a nice hot shower definitely wouldn’t hurt. They were men after all, and whatever their plans might hold for her, the power of feminine persuasion would work better to her advantage if she didn’t look a mess and actually resembled a woman. There wasn’t any debating it. Before she talked herself out of it, she cranked the water on and stepped out of her clothes.

The hot water shooting against her from every angle was heavenly. She looked around for soap and shampoo, surprised to find feminine lilac scented body wash with a matching purple loofa beside bottles of hair products. If they were trying to make her smell and look nice, things might be worse than she had originally believed.

The news had been plagued with stories of women being kidnapped and drugged to sell as sex slaves all over New Orleans, but the idea of it being reality hadn’t crossed her mind until now. What if that’s why she was here? What drugs had they given her? Hell, more importantly, how long had she been here? The tightness in her muscles returned, erasing what the hot water had so wonderfully eased in vain. She rushed to finish, wanting to find an escape route before it was too late. It dawned on her that she hadn’t seen a towel, much less have clean clothing to put on, and she groaned. Reluctantly, she turned off the shower knob and stepped out into the steam filled room.

A stack of jumbo luxurious fluffy bath towels sat atop a shelf beside the shower. She grabbed one, momentarily sidetracked by its lush softness. She neatly wrapped one around her and wound her hair up in another, and returned to the vanity.

Jex knew he shouldn’t be using magic, but having a pissed off female was worse than dealing with Drakk or the humans. The towels were a necessity. The clothing, well, that was optional. He hoped she decided on the ‘optional’ option, but had zapped her an outfit similar to the skirt and top she had worn before. The sexy black and baby pink lace panties and bra he left had been a guess.

Over an hour later, she stepped from the new bathroom, and he waited anxiously with a welcoming grin. The scowl she shot him wasn’t the reaction he had been hoping for. He hesitated, unsure what to say. “How was your shower?” There. Safe, casual, and given the over the top powder room he had provided, there was no way she could deny it was anything but amazing. The red skirt swiveled around her calves, gracefully draping from her small frame. The thin black blouse hugged her ample breasts, dipping low enough he got a teasing view of the ample cleavage that peeked out the top.
Delicious.
When his eyes finally made their way back to meet hers, her expression only worsened.

“Seriously? The shower would have been great given there wasn’t a gigantic guard standing at the door. And I despise pink. Purple, blue, heck even green…but pink? Now, we can do this one of two ways. Either you can explain yourself and we hash this out like two civilized adults, or I can make sure you spend the last of your miserable life behind bars. Your choice.”

Jex couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride for the little hothead in front of him. For such a small thing she had spunk, especially since there was no way she could do anything to hurt him. It would be more like a puppy chewing on your sock than a threat. “Good. Now, you need to eat.” She looked around, noticing the small table that held a heaping plate of roasted pork, baked potato, and asparagus.
Maybe this is a hotel? There’s no way they would feed her like this if they were kidnappers, right? Unless the women cook too? If there’s more, that might work to my advantage. Power in numbers…

She forced a half smile and proceeded over to the table. When he sat with her, it threw off her act. “What pray tell do you think you are doing?” His cocky grin flashed, and despite the fact she had found him attractive in the store, he was overly alluring now. Her body reacted, pulling to him like a magnet. Her fingers clasped around her fork tighter than necessary as she fought feeling any attraction to him but knew it was no use. He was drop dead gorgeous. Hell, besides the other two that had entered her shoppe, he was the sexiest man she had ever laid eyes on. There was something different about them…something…almost otherworldly. A word floated through her head again—dragon. Could they really exist? She shook her head absentmindedly and took a bite of food to ease the hunger that rumbled in her stomach. Except, the hunger that she felt couldn’t be sated with food.

“I’m dining with you. So, how is the pork? I roasted it myself.”

“One must be eating to dine.
You
are staring.” She tasted the pork out of curiosity, unable to hold the hum of approval that erupted. His grin lightened her heart. “It’s delicious.”

“Good. Xavier prepared the asparagus and potato, but I am the head meat chef amongst us.” Jex had loved to cook since he were a hatchling. Growing up in a house full of women had taught him multiple domestic tasks, along with giving him an insight of how to handle the opposite sex. Of all the dragons that had once been, he had a special gift of flattering the females.

With every bite, Aislinn felt herself relaxing some and fell into conversation with the strange sexy man. The words ‘stranger danger’ kept gnawing at her conscience, but there was an air to him that didn’t scream threat. She used it to her advantage, and pried for information hoping to out—psych him.

Jex knew the girl was prodding for information and inwardly found it amusing. He threw her little tidbits here and there, working her mind easily. If she felt victorious, there was a good chance she might quit seeing them as captors and be more open to answering whatever questions Drakk might throw at her. Drakk was the straight-to-the-point type of dragon, skipping all formalities and manners. He hadn’t mingled with humans and their ways as Jex had. Although it was no secret dragons weren’t the most friendly of creatures, Jex found humans entertaining. If he could get her to warm up to him some before Drakk’s interrogation, he was more than happy to set her mind at ease.

He mentioned subtle hints of their species, leaving her to put the pieces of the puzzle together. The moment recognition struck her he had to choke down a laugh. Her face and tone mimicked a scene out of some glittery vampire movie he had sat through multiple times while accompanied by a blonde human he once dated. The heroine had been led to the woods, then confronted the vampire, finally verbalizing his identity. Instead of saying “vampire”, Aislinn said, “dragon” in disbelief.

Chapter Four

Drakk paced outside the room where Jex and the human female were. He had spoken to the others and it was up to him to figure out how she played in this mess. They needed to figure out what was going on. The men from the lab were going to be coming for them, they needed to have a plan. Plus, if they were looking for dragons, where there any still out there that could be in danger.

Before they had agreed to be taken to the facility, Drakk knew there were more of them. They usually hid in plain sight. With this new information though, it seemed the humans had come up with a purpose for them, one Drakk had no plans on being a part of. However, if they were determined enough, there was a possibility they could track down a dragon whom was in hiding.

He listened at the door to Jex and the woman’s conversation and rolled his eyes. The young dragon was pulling out all the stops for her, trying to get into her good graces,
it was laughable
. Finally, with a shake of his head he walked into the room.