Dragon Heat 1 - Dead Sexy Dragon (12 page)

Stig clamped a hand over his wounded arm and panted

from exertion. Taking another being’s life still affected

him. He’d done it more times than he cared to think about

over the centuries but it never got any easier. Perhaps that

was a good thing. He liked to think it was the best of his

humanity that allowed him to feel sadness at the loss of

life, even if that life belonged to an enemy.

“AARRGH!” Stig cried out in surprise and pain.

Something sharp pierced his back and belly. He glanced

down and spotted the tip of a similar
dao
blade poking

through his abdomen. In a moment of horrific pain, the

sword was withdrawn.

Stig fell to his knees. His insides burned. Blood poured

from the wound. He didn’t have to look over his shoulder.

He knew what had happened. The goon he’d thought he’d

finished clearly had a little life left in him, enough to strike

a final, deadly blow.

“Cora.” His whispered words would likely never reach

her ears. Somewhere behind him she lay unconscious and

possibly close to death herself from blood loss. There was

no way she’d escaped that rollover without sustaining

major injury. In a last desperate attempt to protect her, Stig

hoped her passing was quick and painless, so the Knights

wouldn’t be able to take her as a prisoner.

His, on the other hand, was sure to be gruesome.

Stig’s ears perked to the sound of the sword cutting

through the air as it lifted for one last swing. He braced

for the bite of the blade against his neck but it never came.

There was a loud snap and then a wet gurgle. Seconds

later, the goon fell onto Stig’s back. Stig rolled his

shoulders, sending the man’s body to the ground next to

him. A harpoon impaled his chest and throat. The upward

angle affirmed Stig’s suspicion—the speargun had been

fired from the ground.

“Stig?” Cora’s weak voice filled him with hope and a

renewed strength.

“Cora?” He turned slowly, his arm pressed to his

oozing gut, and found her half crawling, half dragging

herself toward him. She held a broken arm to her chest and

dragged her misshapen and bloody leg. A speargun rested

not far from her.

Stig was struck by the irony of the moment. He’d come

to save Cora’s life and she’d saved his.

“Oh, God, Stig.” Cora wept at the sight of his mangled

wing and bleeding stomach. Cringing in pain, she removed

her shirt and pressed the cloth to the deep wound. She

caressed his bloody face with her free hand. The change

took place more slowly this time. The pain was nearly

unbearable. “We have to get you to the hospital. I think

their SUV is still running. I can probably drive.”

He knew she couldn’t drive in her state. She’d kill them

both.

Through gritted teeth, Stig gave his final instructions.

“Find your cell phone and call nine-one-one. After you

make the call, you can help me into those bushes over

there. I’ll hide until the ambulance leaves.”

Cora shook her head. “I’m not going to leave you here

to die.”

“You have to, Cora. I can’t go to a hospital looking like

this.”

“No.” She gripped his hand tightly and refused to let go.

“I’m not leaving you again.” Cora pressed her lips to his

in a passionate kiss. “I love you.”

Her words soothed the still-raw wound of her earlier

rejection. He’d seen the orientation of the vehicles. Cora

had been coming back to him. He couldn’t fault her for

being afraid of changing into a scaled beast. Had he been

in her shoes, he might have done the same thing.

“Cora, I love you.” He swallowed a painful lump. He

tasted blood and wondered how long it would take for the

internal bleeding to finish him. “I love you so much. I want

you to live.”

Her protest was interrupted by the unmistakable rumble

of approaching dragons. Stig’s core vibrated with

awareness of his kind, of his Brothers. Relief saturated his

weary muscles. He’d come to their aid in situations hairier

than this. Their shared senses of danger were much like

those of the mate bond. He should have known they’d

come for him.

The ground trembled as Madoc and Griff landed with

very little finesse. In such a stressful situation, Stig wasn’t

surprised they came in heavy and loud. The Welsh Reds

panted noisily as they appraised the scene, the crimson

scales on their chests expanding powerfully with each

breath. In dragon form, it was often difficult to gauge their

emotions, but when their gazes fell on Stig and Cora’s

entwined bodies, the shock was evident.

Stig could only imagine how bizarre they looked. Cora,

his mortal lover, held pressure on his orange and red

mottled abdomen—his decidedly not dragonlike abdomen.

Cora stiffened with fear. Stig used the last of his energy

to take her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. “It’s all

right, Cora. They’re friends. They’ll take care of us.”

Certain Cora was in good hands, Stig finally relaxed.

His eyelids drooped and he slipped into unconsciousness.

He hoped he’d wake again to the sight of Cora’s sweet

face.

Chapter Seven

Cora woke with a start. Her strained neck immediately

protested the jerky movement. Wincing, she rubbed her

aching muscles and glanced toward the open bedroom

door for the source of the sound that woke her. There was

an ungodly ruckus down in the kitchen. Apparently Griff or

Madoc were trying to make lunch.
Trying
being the

operative word.

She stretched her sore back and sat up a bit straighter.

Falling asleep in the chair next to Stig’s bed had put her

back and neck in a weird position. She gingerly moved her

leg, the cast still heavy and unfamiliar. Her broken arm

rested in a sling.

It had been four days since that nightmare of a night but

she seemed to be healing surprisingly fast. The perks of

becoming a dragon, she supposed. There was little pain,

only infrequent bouts of throbbing when she moved too

quickly or bumped into something.

Madoc and Griff, the shockingly red dragons who had

come to their rescue, had taken very good care of them.

They’d been whisked away to the closest Brotherhood

safe house where a very scary, very intimidating dragon

named Ignatius, their leader, saw to their medical care.

She’d been so weak and in so much pain those first few

hours were mostly a blur. She remembered snippets.

Madoc starting an IV in her good arm. Griff steadying her

as Ignatius worked to straighten her leg. The prickling heat

of their dragon magic enhancing the human-made

pharmaceuticals.

Cora had slipped into a deep sleep at some point and

had woken up late the next afternoon. Stig still remained in

an almost comatose state. All that regeneration to heal his

extensive injuries required a lot of energy. His breathing

was slow and deep, his eyelids hardly moving.

The sight of his motionless body in that bed left her

aching with fear and guilt. She’d watched her grandmother

slip away in a hospice bed and had been the one to ID

Hector after he’d wrapped his truck around a tree.

Realizing how close she’d come to losing Stig made her

never want to leave his side again, not even for the

briefest of moments.

The sound of approaching footsteps caught her attention.

Moments later, Ignatius appeared in the doorway. He cast

a glance at Stig’s motionless form. His scarred face

showed no emotion. “He will wake soon.”

Cora sensed Ignatius knew the exact moment when Stig

would wake. There was something about his bond with the

rest of the Brotherhood that was different. He’d been the

one to send Madoc and Griff, the two closest Brothers, to

their rescue that night. Ignatius had felt her terror and

Stig’s pain.

He lifted the lunch tray clasped in his big hands. “I

brought you some lunch.”

Her hungry gaze swept over the sandwich and chips as

Ignatius settled the tray over her lap. A glass of iced tea

and a few celery sticks slathered with peanut butter and

sprinkled with raisins rounded out the simple lunch.

“Thank you.”

He allowed the tiniest of smiles to curve his mouth

before moving toward Stig’s bed. Ignatius closed his right

eye, his only eye, and swept his fingertips over Stig’s

forehead. Could he see what Stig dreamed? After a few

seconds, he removed his hand and crossed to the empty

chair on the other side of Stig’s bed.

Cora felt a little weird eating by herself. She picked up

a celery stick. “Hungry?”

He shook his head. “I ate earlier, but thank you. I should

tell you that I spoke to a friend and we’ve dealt with that

legal issue of yours. You can’t go back to San Antonio but

I think it’s a small price to pay for escaping that mess you

created.”

Cora blinked at him. “I didn’t ask you to do that.”

“Stig considers you part of our family now. I take care

of my family.”

She wasn’t sure what to say to that so she ate. The room

fell into an awkward silence punctuated only by the crunch

of the celery sticks. When Madoc or Griff sat vigil at

Stig’s bedside, Cora found it easy to talk with them.

Ignatius was a different story. He was so distant. Not

mean, exactly, just…aloof.

“Do you like me?” Cora figured the worst he could do

was say no and thought he probably would. His opinion of

her shouldn’t matter, but she’d seen the way the other

dragons looked up to Ignatius. She didn’t want Stig to

suffer because Ignatius disliked her. If there was some

way she could make friends with him, she’d damn sure try.

Ignatius seemed a little surprised. “Why would you ask

me that?”

She remembered the tale Stig had told her in the kitchen

about the deaths that had started the war. “Your brother

died because he fell in love with a human girl.” She

gestured to a motionless Stig. “You almost lost one of your

Brothers because he fell in love me, another human girl.

You see where I’m going with this?”

“I do but you’re not Cornelia and he isn’t Sixtus.” He

exhaled slowly. “I like you…”

“But?”

He was quiet, as if considering his words carefully.

“You make Stig vulnerable and his love for you makes us

all vulnerable. His loyalties are torn between you, the

woman he loves, and us, the Brothers he’d bled with on

the battlefield for centuries.”

Guilt twisted Cora’s belly. “I didn’t know what would

happen when I left San Antonio that night and sought

refuge with Stig.”

Ignatius’s face softened. “No one blames you. What

happened to the two of you was terrible but we managed

to recover and destroy two swords, so some good came

out of it. Unfortunately, you were just a pawn. The Knights

found a way to use you in their nasty little game.”

Anger zipped through Cora. Within hours of waking

from her deep sleep, she’d learned the whole ugly truth

about the Knights buying her brother’s debts from those

loan sharks and using her to draw Stig from the safety of

his home. “I still can’t believe they set this whole thing

up.”

Ignatius sighed and stretched out his legs. “They’re a

treacherous lot. Their seer is particularly skilled. I can’t

help but wonder how long she’s known about you, how

long she’s been plotting Stig’s demise.”

Cora frowned. “You think Stig’s attack was in the

works for some time?”

Ignatius shrugged. “You were meant for him. That’s

clear enough.”

“Because my touch makes him humanlike?”

Ignatius nodded. “I suspect there’s a touch of the dragon

in you. It’s not common but we’ve come across human

descendants of dragons in the past. Human women with

supernatural abilities seem to have the easiest time

conceiving with us. Back in the old days, when

persecution was high, witches and their kind were offered

sanctuary in our communities. Interbreeding was

inevitable. A large number of those offspring became

clavigers.”

“Stig said some of those clavigers also became

dragons.”

“When two people love, when two dragons love, it’s

impossible to separate them.”

“And I’m part dragon?”

“A very small part,” he clarified. “We’ll have Reynard

research your family line in his archives and then we’ll

know for sure. The signs”—he gestured to his own back

—“are clear enough. Diluted dragon blood explains why

your mating with Stig caused the scaling on your back. His

touch, his love, the magic between you, awakened those

sparks of dragon inside you.”

“And that’s why the Knights used me.”

“It’s no coincidence your brother and Stig fought

together during the war. I suspect the Knights were

involved then and again after your brother left the

Marines. They likely pushed him toward their loan sharks.

The rest, of course, you know.”

Cora took a small bite of her celery as visions of her