A Dragon's Heart (9 page)

Even after their bodies came back to reality, they remained still, catching their breath together and simply letting the miracle of their unity set in, as if time could stop and all of this could last forever if they didn’t move.

P
erry knew
all three of them were treading deep water in their current situation. After that amazing second night together, they had just sort of fallen into things. They had spent the two weeks since then enjoying things with Lexie, getting to know her, letting her know them, finishing missions during the day, making love at night.

It was starting to feel like home, and that was going to be a problem.

He could easily see this being perfect for them. Everything they could want, as long as nothing got worse and nothing went wrong.

But they knew things were bound to go wrong, and the only thing to do was speed up the mate search. So last night, he and Tor had met with the other tigers and given them the mission to help them find the right mate.

The longer they waited, the more painful it would be for all of them, as much as Perry wished it could go on.

As a result, Tor was extra testy today, and even Lexie, who was usually bright and industrious in the morning, was a little quieter, as if the light that always came from her was slightly dimmed.

He clenched his hand into a fist and forced himself to walk past her as she strode to her office.

Tor was leaning against one of the pillars in the main foyer and glaring from under his dark brows at Perry, as if this were all his fault.

Tor had agreed last night when they’d met with the tigers, but more out of duty to their partnership than anything else.

Perhaps he still hoped no one would be found, or when one was, Perry would still choose Lexie over her.

No chance. Perry could think of the future (not just the next few years, but the next hundred) in a way nobody else could.

A phone rang in the office, and Perry quirked his ears in that direction. He heard Lexie pick up, say a couple words, and then hang up.

Then he heard her footsteps and saw the door to the office swing open.

He looked at her, unable to handle the expression of pain on her face that she was trying to hide as she undid her hair and pulled it into a tighter bun. He didn’t want her to pull it away. He wanted it spread luxuriously on his bed while he and Tor did nice things to her body.

His heart tightened, but his mind ignored it as he calmly responded to her call by striding into the office. “What is it?”

Tor looked at him curiously, and Perry waved for him to follow, assuming anything that involved him would involve Tor as well.

Lexie sat in the chair and clicked a few screens. “That was Kel on the phone. He has already found someone.” She laughed bitterly. “I guess maybe you should have asked him from the start. He’s fast.”

Tor frowned and sat in a chair in front of the desk, making it creak. He leaned back, looking like he didn’t want to be here, didn’t want to talk about mates with Lexie, their lover, sitting across from them.

Even if they all knew the terms and had made the deal as it stood. Even if Lexie would hopefully be unhurt by this when it was over.

“I’m printing off the details,” she said curtly. “I don’t need you reading over my shoulder.” She went to the printer as it buzzed and hummed and spat out several pages for each copy. She stacked them, stapled them, and handed one to each dragon, all without breaking her composure.

Perry admired her for that. He looked at the paper in his hand and began to read the included news article and Kel’s notes. “Looks like a fire in a large apartment building. She went back in three times.”

Lexie made a little noise like a grunt, but Perry ignored it and continued to read the report. If this really were the mate they needed, then maybe they could all be freed from this painful situation right away. A pang sounded through him at that, and he felt his dragon shriek in alarm, but he shoved it away. He should never have let his animal bond with someone they couldn’t have.

“Wow, she even saved a cat,” Tor said, though his voice was still doubtful. He set the paper aside. “We should meet with her. Sometime next week or something.”

Lexie glanced over at him hopefully, and Perry frowned, hating he was the only grown-up in the situation and always had to be the bearer of bad news.

“We should meet with her now. Well, as soon as possible,” Perry said, standing and turning away from the others. “I’m going to go over this information a little longer and then I’ll be calling Kel.” He gave the others a calm look he didn’t feel. “The sooner the better.”

Lexie wasn’t looking at him as he left, but he felt like a total tool. He heard the door open and slam behind him and knew Tor was following as he marched up the stairs to their room.

He ignored Tor’s huffs until he felt the larger dragon knock the papers out of his hand, sending them fluttering down the stairs. Perry glanced down in alarm to make sure Lexie wasn’t watching.

“What are you doing?” he asked, grabbing Tor by the collar. “You knew this was where it was going. You always knew that.”

Tor’s eyes flickered yellow. “I don’t know that anymore.”

“Get ahold of your beast,” Perry demanded, feeling his own answer to the challenge with a flash of silver.

Tor ripped out of his grasp, eyes flashing back to blue, at least for a moment. “How can you go through with this? We’ve been fine with just two of us. Why won’t we be fine if we pick Lexie?” He ran his hand through his dark hair, which was getting slightly shaggy. Dragon hair grew quickly, and Tor had been too busy with work and Lexie to tend to it.

It gave him an even wilder appearance. Perry observed his partner, took in the sheer breadth of his strength, and shook his head. Red dragon or not, bonded or not, they were meant to work in a triad with a dragon-heart, if that were at all possible.

And now it seemed possible.

Tor shook his head, and when he looked at Perry, Perry noticed the whites of his eyes were reddened and there were lines under them. He hadn’t been sleeping well.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do without her,” Tor confessed. “I’m used to seeing her every day after work. Looking forward to it. I don’t know if I can do that with this new girl.”

“You agreed to this last night when we talked to the tigers. This is just the extension of that. We are all keeping our word,” Perry said, lifting the papers with his mind and shuffling them in his hands to keep them neat again.

“You cold bastard, how could you do this to me?” Tor said, and Perry fought the urge to punch him, held back only because he knew his partner was suffering as much as he was. Maybe more because he was so much more able to feel. Maybe less because Perry’s unwillingness to get close to anyone meant this was the first time he had to feel this way.

“What I’m doing to
you
?” Perry asked, lifting his partner in the air.

Tor’s eyes bulged, his hands grasping at the invisible force raising him. Right now, all the strength in the world would do nothing against the power of Perry’s mind. Perry drew him up close to him and grabbed him by the collar again, pulling them face to face.

His eyes glared into Tor’s, which were stubborn and obstinate. “You think you’re the only one hurt by this? The only one in absolute agony?” He shook his head. Don’t forget, Tor, I made love to her, too. I felt her, too. I see her every day, too. It was my stupid idea to bring her here. I made a miscalculation when I thought we wouldn’t bond with a non-dragon-heart. But dammit, we don’t get to make decisions like that!” he nearly screamed. “We are dragons! We guard the world.” He turned away. “Our hearts don’t matter. And Lexie will forget. And she and her kind will stay safe.” He slowly lowered Tor, who immediately yanked free and adjusted his shirt.

“Don’t you ever do that again.”

“And don’t you ever come at me like I don’t have a heart,” Perry said. “You think it’s easy to be the one doing the right thing when I know what we all want? Just because I can do it doesn’t mean I want to. I have to because no one else will, and if we’re short-sighted, then we will all pay for it in the long run.”

He stomped up the stairs, waving the papers in one hand. Then he turned to look over his shoulder at Tor, who was frozen on the steps. “And what’s the point of staying with Lexie if we can’t even keep her safe in the future? Letting her go will be agony, but keeping her and letting something happen to her because we gave up the best choice for protecting our region for the pleasure of being with her would be worse, don’t you think?”

Tor was silent. For once, Perry had shut him up completely. No cocky retorts, nothing to say. Instead, he turned on his heel and strode out of the mansion, not stopping until the door slammed behind him.

Perry pulled out his phone, pulse still racing with anger, and dialed Kel’s number. Leave it to the white tiger to find something rare. As far as Perry knew, Kel was the only one of his kind.

“Kel here,” his voice answered on the other side.

“It’s Perry. We want to meet the girl,” he said.

“I figured,” Kel said. “She already agreed to an interview. I scheduled a pick-up.”

Perry blinked. “That was quick.”

“I figured you didn’t want to wait,” he said. “It’s great to find a mate after all.”

That’s right. Kel was absolutely disgusting with his mate, a rare shifter female he’d rescued on one of his bodyguard jobs before he’d stopped doing that.

“Yes,” Perry said. “I guess so. Yes, it’s fine. So when are you coming over?”

“Is tonight okay?” Kel asked. “She seemed pretty willing, a little curious maybe.”

“If it goes wrong, we can always erase her memory,” Perry murmured, thinking about Tor and Lexie and what they were doing at this moment. Tor was probably flying away, dealing with the stress the only way they knew how.

Lexie was in her office, probably crying. That’s what women did when hurt, right? Perry shook his head. What did he know? He felt a bit like crying at the moment, too.

But dragons didn’t cry.

“Okay,” he said. “We’ll meet her tonight. If all goes well, we’ll keep her here and get to know her.”

“Cool,” Kel said. “How are things with that new secretary? She seems really on the ball.”

“Ah, that’s the other thing I was going to talk to you about,” Perry said, scratching the back of his head. “We’re still working on bringing in one or two loose ends in Domingo’s and Felding’s case.” The reason the dragons had gone after them in the first place and met Lexie was because Kel’s mate had been in danger. So he figured Kel owed him a favor or two. “I may need somewhere for Lexie to stay. You know, until we can send her back into the human world and wipe her memory. I didn’t think you would find a mate so soon.”

“Why wouldn’t she want to be there with the mate?” Kel asked. “Wait, did you get involved? You rascals.”

Perry felt guilt settling in his gut like hard tar. He stayed silent.

“You didn’t. Holy shit, Perry!”

“Yes?”

“That was stupid!” Kel sounded almost exultant. “You never do stupid.”

“I know,” Perry said dryly. “Don’t go cracking pistachios in triumph over it.” He and Tor had practically raised the tigers, and he knew all of their habits. Kel’s most obvious involved the ritual and obnoxious consumption of little green nuts.

“I’m gonna have to meet this girl,” Kel said. “I’ve stayed away too long. I’ll have to talk to her when I bring Monica over.”

“Monica?” Perry asked.

“Yeah, that’s the girl’s name. Didn’t you read the paper?”

“I did,” Perry said. But somehow, even with his awesome memory, he’d already forgotten. Kel was right; this was really unlike him.

“Shit, now I really gotta see this,” Kel said. “And sure, as long as Sofia gives the go-ahead, then Lexie can stay with us if you need her to. But I know Carter and Amy are still chasing leads on your case. Me and Jace, too, if anything comes up.”

Perry nodded. “I appreciate that.”

Carter, the middle brother of the tigers, worked as a detective with the humans. He had access to things others could only dream of, as someone straddling both the human and shifter worlds. “I guess I’ll see you tonight, then.”

“Okay,” Kel said. “But, Perry? If you’re bonding with your secretary, why not her? Why this big hunt?”

“You know why,” Perry said. “We need a dragon-heart.”

“Pshhh,” Kel scoffed. “She probably is one. Anyone would need a dragon-heart to deal with the two of you.”

“Hmm,” was all Perry could say. He knew Lexie better than almost anyone at this point. If anyone wanted to believe it was at all possible, it was him.

But he knew better.

He’d read all the reports on other recently found dragon-hearts (well, in the last hundred years), and they all had one thing in common.

When there was danger and they could help someone, they always stupidly put themselves in danger, even if it was hopeless. They didn’t have any sense of self-preservation. Several of them were lucky they’d even been found by dragons before they ended up dead. It was that lack of selfishness that made them a perfect candidate to be trusted with the type of power dragons held.

Lexie had been under a desk. Like anyone smart would have been.

“Anyway, Kel, I’ll see you tonight,” he said.

Then he hung up without waiting for an answer. He had a roaring headache and needed to lie down before Monica got there.

Monica. Okay name, but not nearly as pretty as Lexie.

Perry slumped up the stairs and into his room, shutting the door behind him.

L
exie had never seen
anyone like Kel, the giant man who came in that evening to bring the dragons their new potential mate.

He was tall, with Tor’s incredible size and broad shoulders, but he had light skin, completely white-blond hair that stood up in short spikes, and ice-blue eyes that shone in the low light of the foyer.

Lexie probably would have stared a lot longer if her attention hadn’t been drawn to the woman behind him.

She was tall with pale skin and dark hair and a heart-shaped face with sharp but delicate features. Intelligent blue eyes that were almost grey. Dark lashes. She was thin, unlike Lexie, and Lexie had to stifle a bit of rage at how much different she was from her in nearly every way.

Then again, there was no woman in the world she wouldn’t have hated at this moment.

Tor came walking in right behind them, and as Perry swept forward with gracious introductions, Tor walked past the group to her and put an arm around Lexie to draw her to the side, where no one would be watching.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Lexie rubbed her arms. Tor felt so good right next to her, but she had cold dread running through her at the thought of what was to come. What would it be like when she lost her memory? Would she be relieved or just lost? Would it all be like none of this had happened?

She put a hand on Tor’s bicep. She no longer wanted to forget him.

“Hey, you two over there,” Kel called to them, waving a giant hand. “Come over and let’s get this going. It’s going to get late.”

Tor looked down at her, his dark-blue eyes full of concern. “You don’t have to come in for the interview,” he said.

“Of course I do,” she snapped, pulling away from him and straightening her back to walk ahead of him toward her office. “It’s my job.”

Tor said nothing to that, so Lexie took deep breaths, trying to calm her heart, trying not to think about the girl following the dragons and Kel into her office. It would be a little crowded, but at least everyone would be able to hear.

She’d told the dragons she wouldn’t let what was happening between them keep her from helping them find their mate.

Plus, she could make sure there was nothing sketchy about this bitch.

Monica was wearing nice, simple clothing that probably cost more per piece than Lexie’s entire wardrobe. She seemed a little nervous but excited to be here and looked perfectly at home settled in a chair between the two dragons.

Lexie wanted to pull her hair out.

She subdued the urge in herself as Kel brought a chair in from another room and sat behind the desk, next to Lexie, but not that close. Lexie appreciated the moral support and gave Kel a small smile.

He gave her a wink and a thumbs-up, and she had to fight a blush as she realized he might know more about her relationship with the dragons than she would want.

She drew in a breath, about to say something, when Perry spoke up.

“So, Monica, is it?” he asked.

Monica nodded. “Monica Burns.”

Perry flipped the pages in front of him, and Lexie noticed his hands were shaking slightly. From excitement or something else? He’d been avoiding her gaze since that morning, rather since the night before when he and Tor had extended the job to find a mate to all three of the tigers. “So tell us a little about the fire,” he said.

“I don’t know what I could tell you that hasn’t been on the news,” Monica said in a sweet voice that was rich and not too low or too high.

“Just tell us from your point of view,” Tor said, leaning back and away from her in a casual position, though she could tell his guard was up.

She’d heard Tor’s argument with Perry earlier that day, and while she hadn’t been out to see it or able to make out every word, she knew for the first time, her two dragon partners were really not getting along.

Not that they would be partners much longer.

“Okay,” Monica said, looking from Tor to Perry like her eyes couldn’t get enough. She reached out to touch one of Perry’s silky strands. “Your hair is gorgeous. Is it real?”

Perry nodded.

“Did you go gray early?” she asked. “It’s so shiny. I’m sure I’ll have to dye mine.”

“I guess you could say that,” Perry said, dodging the question and sending a glance at Tor for rescue.

“About the fire…” Tor prompted, and Monica nodded eagerly.

“All right. I’ll tell you what I remember. It started around… I’d say ten at night. I heard people shouting and screaming.”

Scary
, Lexie thought.

“And then?” Perry said, looking annoyed that they had to keep asking.

Monica closed her eyes and inhaled like she was going back to that night. “And then I remember throwing on a robe, leaving the room. I didn’t know what to take. I just wanted to know what was going on.”

“Okay,” Perry said. “And then?”

“Stop bothering me. I’m getting to it,” Monica said, making the men in the room flinch. “It was a bit traumatic, obviously.” She looked at Lexie, hoping to gain sympathy, and Lexie gave her a small grin. Yes, she wanted to hate the woman that was going to take her place, but she also had to admire that she could stand up to Perry when he was being snippy like that.

“Traitor,” Perry muttered in Lexie’s direction. Lexie’s lip quirked.

“What was that?” Monica asked Perry.

“Nothing,” he said. “Go on.”

Monica flipped her hair back over her shoulder. It was straight and shiny and unfairly perfect. “Anyway, when I got outside, I saw flames all over the top of the building. And I remember this woman next to me was screaming about someone being up there. And the next thing I knew, and I know this sounds stupid, but I was running up to where I could hear someone yelling for help.”

Tor and Perry looked at each other, and Kel sat back with folded arms, looking satisfied with himself.

Lexie just wanted to know exactly what it was about this whole scenario that was so important to the dragons. What made it so a woman would get the power they needed so badly to complete their triad?

“Anyway, I got to a room on the third floor from the top. I got a kid and picked him up and carried him downstairs. When I got outside, I realized there was another person trapped.”

“And what were the other people doing?” Tor asked, looking offended. “Why were they letting you be the only one doing the rescuing?”

“I wasn’t the only one,” Monica said. “There were others, helping the firefighters or running inside. I just got the most attention for it.”

“But you went back into the building. Two more times, according to this,” Perry said, showing her the news article.

“I did.”

“Why?” he asked. “Have you no sense of self-preservation?”

She shrugged, eyes wide and innocent. “I’m not sure exactly. I just knew when people were suffering, I had to move. I had to help them. I didn’t know what would happen to me. That didn’t even cross my mind.” She put up her hands, and Tor snorted in derision.

“Sure,” he said.

“Tor,” Perry said with a warning.

Tor stood. “Sounds like you found what you wanted, Perry. If you don’t need me any longer, I’m going for a walk.”

Then he walked out and shut the door behind him.

Lexie knew why he was mad. It was clear to all in the room that Monica had answered Perry’s questions just how she was supposed to. So why did no one look happy about it?

“That’s a good story,” Perry said, putting the papers on the desk and leaning forward in thought.

Lexie wasn’t sure. Something about Monica was too perfect. Then again, multiple newspapers had verified it. Lexie supposed she was just being paranoid and wanting an excuse not to believe she was really that great. Because then Lexie wouldn’t have to leave and forget her dragons.

She felt wetness prick her eyes and reached up to find a tear forming in one corner of her eye, to her shock.

“Here,” Kel said. “Why don’t we go for a walk and let Perry finish the interview?”

Lexie nodded, grateful for the chance to leave the awkward situation. She also had things she wanted to ask Kel.

Perry looked like he wanted to stop them but finally nodded, excusing them.

Kel led her out into the fresh air, and she looked around, wondering if Tor had already flown off. Kel led her to a bench at the side of the garden and sat down, patting the seat next to him.

She felt dwarfed by his size but completely unthreatened. The dragons had made it clear that all the tigers they had trained were happily mated. Now that she thought about it…

“You were the white tiger at Aaron Felding’s place, weren’t you?” she asked.

Kel nodded. “Were you there? I don’t remember you.”

“I was his secretary. A temp,” she corrected, waving a hand. “Anyway, thanks for getting me out of that meeting with Monica.”

“I’m sorry I brought her,” Kel said. “I thought the dragons needed a mate, but now I see they’ve had one here the whole time.” His light-blue eyes were thoughtful.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I can tell how much you care for each other,” he said. “It’s obvious. That’s what caused Tor’s little temper tantrum, right?”

She nodded. “Probably. We all knew it had to end at some point. But I think he got the most attached.”

“Don’t underestimate Perry,” Kel said. “He feels things deeply. He just keeps them close to the chest. Anyway, I feel like I’ve ruined things.”

“No,” she said, resting her hand on her cheek. “Not at all. In fact, you’ve given us a way out of this. Might as well quit before it gets more painful.”

Kel cocked his head. “I don’t get it. Why does it have to end? Why can’t it be you?”

“I don’t meet some kind of qualifications,” she said. “Some rule the dragons have to follow to be able to protect the earth.”

Kel grinned. “At least their region of it. But wait, what do you mean? You mean being dragon-hearted? How would they know that?”

“Dragon-hearted?” she asked. “What is that?”

“They haven’t told you?” he asked. “This is a weird situation all around.”

“They said they didn’t want me to torture myself over it. I think it’d be better to know, though. I’m going to lose my memory soon anyway.”

“Well, I think you deserve to know, for putting up with the dragons all this time.” He eyed her sidewise. “So I’ll tell you if you want me to.”

“I do,” she said.

“Well, you can probably already guess some of it, based on the disasters we’ve been looking into.”

“Yeah,” she said. “I guessed they need to be brave or something.”

“More than that,” Kel said. “They need to be brave to the point of stupid. They need to have completely pure motives. Because with the kind of power they would get in return, they need to be completely trusted. Otherwise, everything could be out of balance.”

“But what do you mean almost stupid?”

“Meaning no thought for themselves. Previous dragon-hearts have done things like walking unarmed into a kidnapping to stop it, or jumping into water above a dam to save a drowning child. Things like that.” He scratched his chin. “I guess they aren’t stupid so much as their need to help others overrides everything else inside them.”

“I see,” Lexie said as something dark swirled inside her. Maybe up until now, she’d been hoping there was a mistake or something. Some reason she could still be what they needed, and they just hadn’t realized it.

But if self-sacrificing bravery was a requirement…

“When they met me, I was hiding under a desk,” she said. “I saw the fighting break out, and I just ran for it. Just sat there shaking and wouldn’t come out. Not until everyone else was gone.”

Kel’s eyes filled with pity as he looked at her. “That is nothing to be ashamed of. That’s what I would want my mate to do if she were in that situation.”

Lexie let out a choked sob as everything came back. “There’s more. Dammit, I knew your mate. Just for a tiny amount of time. I saw her when the boss brought her in, you know? But I didn’t know exactly what was wrong. I didn’t know what they planned to do.”

Kel went quiet, his head gently tilted as he continued to listen.

“But I knew something was wrong, and when the fighting broke out, I should have gone to look for her. Instead, I was frozen in place, too afraid for my own skin to do anything. I’ve always been a scaredy-cat like that,” she said, putting her hands up to the sides of her face like she could somehow hold herself together that way when it felt like she was falling apart.

She’d never felt more ashamed to be who she was.

“Shh,” Kel said, pulling her in for a hug that was purely for comfort. “Sofia would never want you to feel guilty. Nor would she have wanted you to put yourself in danger. Look, there’s nothing wrong with not being a dragon-heart,” he said. “Who knows why that even works that way anyhow? Most men would prefer someone sensible like you.”

“But Tor and Perry can’t afford someone sensible,” she said, wiping tears and pushing away Kel so she could be on her own. “They’ve told me what’s happening in the shifter world. Why they need a third power to help them keep people safe.”

“I kind of think they could do it on their own,” Kel said. “But I don’t blame Perry for wanting to be certain, given what they deal with on a daily basis.”

“Is it dangerous?” Lexie asked. “They always play it down.”

Kel’s expression was serious. “They deal with the worst of our kind. The worst of any kind, really. Yes, it’s dangerous.” He frowned at her. “But so is giving up someone they are clearly in love with.” He stood and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’ve messed everything up again. I’m sorry. Sofia’s going to want to kick my ass when she hears.”

“I’d like to meet her sometime,” Lexie said. “You know, for real. And apologize.”

Kel grinned, and she could see pure love emanating from him as he thought of his mate. “Nah, she’d never need an apology.”

“You forgive me, then?” Lexie asked. “For not doing anything?”

“Nah,” Kel said, giving her a side hug. “There’s nothing to apologize for. You had a right to keep yourself safe. And there was nothing you could have done.”

That didn’t stop other dragon-hearts
, Lexie thought to herself.