Dragon Lord (21 page)

She tried to tell herself that it probably hadn’t. It was probably just his kind nature that had made him feel compelled to be so protective of her. She thought he’d probably been hopeful of getting laid, too, but he didn’t seem to have taken it in bad part that she’d picked Simon instead.

Maybe he still thought he had a chance of getting laid?

And maybe he did at that.

She was very fond of Audric, and there was really no reason at all not to give in to him.

If he was interested.

Even if he wasn’t, the very fact that he was willing to spend time with her should discourage any of the others from deciding to have a go at hitting ‘it’. Which was awful of her, of course, but she didn’t see it as using Audric when she was willing to have sex with him if he wanted her to.

Chapter Twelve

“I consoled her, nothing more,” Audric said, keeping his voice even with an effort.

“I have no doubt of that,” Simon shot back at him, his eyes blazing with his own barely contained rage.

Audric studied him angrily for several moments while he wrestled with his temper. “She is no tavern wench, Simon, no whore, who performs for coins for her efforts and no thought of anything more. She was wounded by your carelessness.”

Simon reddened and looked away. “I gave her no promises. I would not promise what I can not give! She had no reason to be wounded.”

“You are not that dense!” Audric snarled, loosing his temper. “She would not have given herself to you at all if she had not cared, at least a little. It does not matter that you did not
say
what you would or would not give. You gave her reason to think that you wanted her.”

“I did … and now I am done,” Simon snarled. “She has needs--clearly since she had already offered herself to you. I have needs. We
consoled
one another’s needs!”

“Well if you are done then you have no reason to rage at me! And it is not
your
concern how I console her, is it, brother?”

“I
knew
you had fucked her!” Simon bellowed, punching Audric in the jaw before he could duck.

Jorell and Rama launched themselves from their seats and grabbed Audric before he could retaliate. Elden and Haig were a little slower catching Simon. He pulled his punch, however, when he saw Jorell and Rama had grabbed Audric’s arms. Shrugging Elden and Haig off, he stalked to the window, staring out at the night.

“If you are done with the woman,” Jorell said, “I will take her back into the city.”

Simon pivoted on his heel and fixed Jorell with a narrow eyed glared. “Did I give you leave to make decisions for me?”

Jorell reddened and then turned white. “Nay, my lord.”

“If you have need of a woman,” Elden offered, “we can all go into the city and find one. There has been no attempt on you in months.”

Simon swung his glare to encompass Elden.

“Or not,” Elden muttered, returning to his seat.

Simon turned to look at Audric again. “Stay away from Rainie,” he said coldly. “She is mine.” He waited. When Audric did not respond, he strode from the room and down the hall.

“Where do you think he is going?” Elden asked uneasily.

“Where do you think?” Audric growled. “Unless you want a taste of his temper I would not advise following him.”

“But what if that is not where he is headed? He has been so unpredictable of late I never know if I should follow or not,” Haig said.

Audric dropped his hand from his jaw, which he’d been massaging. “Go. See that he is headed to her. If not, summon the rest of us and we will catch up.”

* * * *

As angry as Simon was as he stalked across the walk, into the garage, and up the stairs to Raina’s apartment, he was well aware that he was making a mistake. At the very least, he should’ve turned away and walked off the brunt of his anger before even considering approaching Raina.

He shouldn’t be approaching her at all. He had fucked her already until his cock was raw and his balls felt like they were filled with dust. He was going to be spitting blood if he kept it up.

But as certain as he had been that he had had his fill, appeased the need, the hunger for her was still with him--had dogged him from the moment he had left the house like a coward after informing Tedra that she was to put Raina back to work.

He didn’t know why he hadn’t simply told Raina himself that he didn’t need her anymore.

Actually, he did.

He’d been afraid she would look at him with those big green eyes of hers and he wouldn’t have the balls to say it himself … and he would
know
he was lying to himself. He had not worked her out of his system and he was very much afraid that the complete opposite was true, that the more he was with her the more he would want to stay.

And he couldn’t.

There was only one way that he was ever going to be free of his past and that was by putting it to rest once and for all. He had to give Evangeline justice so that she could rest in peace. He had to go home and do what he’d been born to do--free his homeland from the tyrant who had butchered his way to power. His people needed justice. They needed someone to guide them who cared about them, not someone to crush them into the dirt and bleed them dry into the bargain.

He should not be standing at her door now like a beggar hoping for a few more crumbs of food. It had been hard enough to separate himself from her before. If he was wrong and he could not work her out of her system at all ….

He was on the point of turning around and leaving again when he heard her approach the door, no doubt alerted to his presence when he’d stomped up the stairs.

“Audri… uh oh.”

He narrowed his eyes at her as the tide of rage shifted abruptly and rolled back in. “Faithless wench!” he snarled. “I
know
that he slept here last eve! Elden has never learned to guard his tongue. You could not wait a day or two to fuck him?”

Outrage displaced Raina’s shock, making her throw caution to the wind. “How
dare
you! As
if
it’s any of your damned business who I fuck or when I fuck them!” she growled at him instead of informing him that she hadn’t done anything.

“You are mine … until or unless I say otherwise, damn you!”

“The hell I am!”

“The hell you are not!”

He caught her then--completely by surprise, tossing her over his shoulder like he was … some barbaric king of the universe and stalking down the stairs with her. Shock held her tongue at first, and then the fear of falling as he jogged down the stairs, and the struggle to catch her breath. “What are you doing? Where the hell do you think you’re taking me?” she demanded finally.

“To my room. Our room. And you will stay there until I say otherwise. I will not have Audric … poaching on my preserves!”

“Who the hell died and made you god! I am
not
your preserves!”

“Aye, you are, and I mean to fuck you until you will not look twice at my brother!”

“Put me down!”

“No!”

“I’m warning you, Simon!”

“I am warned.”

She bit him on the back.

“Ow! Damn it to hell woman!” he ground out, popping her on the ass.

She let go of the patch of flesh she’d managed to latch on to, rearing upward.

“Watch your head!” he warned, throwing the front door open.

“Asshole!” she screamed at him.

* * * *

Jorell moved to the window, staring at the window of the garage apartment as he realized Simon had been before. “He is there,” he announced to no one in particular. “Will he stay, do you think, Audric?”

“I am to read his mind?” Audric demanded angrily, moving to a chair and settling in it.

Jorell turned to look at him. “I was only wondering if we should form a perimeter there, or wait to see if he returns to the house.”

“Haig is outside watching. If he does not come back in an hour, you will join him and you and he can take first watch. Rama, Elden, and I will take second.”

Jorell turned to stare out the window again. “You should have waited,” he said presently. “If you had not instantly gone to her, it would not have aroused his possessive streak.”

“Mayhap,” Audric responded.

Jorell frowned. “You believe I am wrong?”

“Yes.”

“It will take longer than we thought to work her out of his system,” Elden said, nodding.

“Or he will not work her out of his system at all!” Jorell responded tartly. “He fucked her for three days straight. It can not be need. His balls will have dried up by now. I am surprised either one could walk when they came out. If he can not hold out one day without running back to her, we are in trouble.”

“You are making something out of nothing!” Rama snapped irritably. “Three days are nothing when he has not been with a woman in a year. He was with that whore a full day and he did not even find her to his taste.”

Audric came to his feet. “Take care, Rama!” he growled threateningly. “If you want to keep your teeth you will not discuss whores and Raina in the same breath!”

Rama stared at him blankly for a moment and then glared at him. “I did not mean that! Gods! You are as bad Simon! I am only saying … Gods! I do not know
what
I meant to say now!”

“You were telling us that we are being concerned over nothing, that Simon will only take a while longer to work her out of his system,” Elden said helpfully, “which is exactly what I said. It has got nothing to do with how long it has been since he was with a woman, or even
that
woman. She is handy and he is a man and can have her when he pleases, and he was obviously very pleased with her or he would not have been three days fucking.” He thought that over. “I have not been with
any
woman that I would be willing to be cooped up with for that length of time. I expect he knew that he was not done. He only came up for a bit of air.”

“For myself, I am sick of hearing how many days he was with her,” Audric snarled. “Can we not agree that it was impressive and leave it at that?”

Elden frowned. “I will certainly agree that it was impressive, though Simon has always had far more stamina than any man I know …or know of.”

“All of that is completely beside the point!” Jorell snapped. “He has not said a word about going home and
that
is the point! Because he is not
going
to think of going home as long as he is following that woman about!”

“
That
woman is named Raina,” Audric said tightly.

“
That
woman …. Gods be damned! He is coming this way with her! And she is ….” He stopped abruptly and whirled to look at Audric.

“She is …?” Audric demanded with a low, menacing growl.

Jorell’s gaze snapped to Elden. “Grab him!”

Elden gaped at him blankly. “What?”

“By the gods! Grab him!”

They all heard the front door slam open at that moment. Raina’s voice carried up the stairs. “YOU ASSHOLE! Put me down! Put me down right now!”

Audric charged the door before any of the others could get out of their seats. Jorell leapt the chair blocking his path and reached the door at almost the same moment as Elden and Rama. Briefly, they formed a bottle neck but managed to break free in a moment and race after Audric, catching up to him just as he met Simon on the stairs.

“Put her down,” Audric said tightly.

“Get out of my way, Audric,” Simon growled.

“Don’t you
dare
hit him!” Raina snarled.

Audric looked at her sharply as she reared up from Simon’s shoulder, twisting around to look at him. The distraction cost him. Simon slammed his fist into his jaw, rocking him back on his heels. Jorell and Elden, who were directly behind Audric by that time, each caught one of his arms as he rocked back and began to haul him back up the stairs.

“Audric!” Raina exclaimed in dismay. “Why did you hit him?”

“Because I did not like the look on his face,” Simon growled, stalking up the stairs with her and into his apartment.

“You … you … bully! He wasn’t even looking when you hit him.”

“He deserved it,” Simon said grimly.

“He didn’t do anything!”

“You do not challenge a man over his woman and then allow yourself to be distracted. Next time, he will know better.”

“That’s barbar….” Raina broke off, sucking in a sharp gasp as Simon bent over and dropped her on the bed. She flung out her arms instinctively as she fell. Simon sprawled on top of her, grasping her wrists before she could recover enough to try to escape. She stared up at him. “I am
not
your woman! You kicked me out!”

Simon stared at her a long moment. “I did not.”

Confusion filled her eyes. Simon took full advantage of it, covering her mouth with his and kissing her with a savagery that took her breath and sent shockwaves of heat all the way to her core.

Raina struggled to gather her wits when he broke the kiss and wove a meandering path across her face to her ear. “You didn’t?” she managed, shivering as he sucked gently at her ear and then traced the swirls with his tongue. His heated breath fanned her ear as he did so, making the muscles low in her belly clench and sending a rippling cascade of goose bumps from her neck downward.

Had she completely misunderstood what had happened, she wondered dizzily?

He moved down her neck after a moment, lifted his head briefly to shove her blouse and her sports bra up and leaned down to suckle one engorged nipple just about the time it clicked her mind that Higgenbottom wouldn’t have taken it upon herself to order her out of Simon’s room.

Not that she had … exactly.

Fire blossomed inside of her as Simon caught her nipple in his mouth and sucked at it, though, and for several moments she completely lost her train of thought. Her breath hitched in her throat. She groaned.

“Simon! We need to talk,” she said, breathless, warmed by his touch, but determined.

“After,” he said firmly, silencing her with his mouth again as he reached down to tug at her jeans. He slipped his hand inside the opening as soon as he’d unfastened them and pushed the zipper to the bottom, threading his fingers through the thatch of hair on her mound and then finding her clit with the tip of one finger. Another wave of pleasurable heat washed through her as he teased her.