Dragon Song (3 page)
Authors: Jordyn Tracey
Chapter Four
Tielle’s phone woke her after incessant ringing. She reached to grab it, but grasped air and fell over the side of the bed. Groaning, she tried to force her aching muscles to work, but they were not cooperating. The phone having stopped a few seconds, started up again.
“Shut the hell up, damn it,” she screamed.
It ignored her and kept it up.
Without energy to rise, she dragged her covers off the bed and folded her flat pillow beneath her head. Soon sleep reclaimed her only to be ripped away with pounding on the front door.
“Can’t a woman frickin’ sleep?” she grumbled and half crawled, half stumbled to the door. Only when she had her hand on the knob did she remember she was stark naked and that she hadn’t been alone in her place when she closed her eyes. With a yelp, she spun around to search the living room. Stone wasn’t there. Disappointment weighed heavy on her, and then worry. Was he okay? The pounding on the door started again, and Jamie shouted for her to open up.
Tielle laughed. She reached into the closet by the door and grabbed a raincoat to stuff her arms in. After she’d knotted it, she opened the door.
“Morning, sunshine.”
Jamie smirked, shuffling past. “Woman, do you know what time it is? I was worried when I couldn’t reach you. I was all ready to tell you how good the sex was, but I let you sleep until one to be sure you were awake enough to listen.” She stopped and stared at Tielle. “What are you wearing?”
Tielle’s attention shifted to the clock in the kitchen which she’d placed so she could see it from the living room.
“One?
Oh my goodness, where did the time go?”
Neither one of them was paying much attention to the other. Tielle saw her friend’s eyes go wide and her hands land on her hips. “You’re naked under there!” she accused. “Just who did you bring home?” She scanned the area, and to Tielle’s annoyance, her gaze fell on the medical kit Tielle hadn’t put back in her closet. She swore under her breath.
Rushing to clean up the mess and curious about the fact that Stone had ripped the needle from his arm, she babbled to cover her guilt. “I feel like I haven’t eaten in weeks. You want some bacon and eggs or something? Oh yeah, you’re the health food nut between the two of us. How about cream of wheat? I usually smother it with butter and sugar.”
Jamie caught her hand as she dropped the empty IV bags inside her kit. “Who did you use those on, Tielle, at whatever time you got home? I know it was late.”
Tielle sucked her teeth. “Girl, please. You know I study at all times, and we have that test coming up next week. I wanted to be sure. And for your information, I did this early yesterday. I just didn’t clean it up.”
Jamie crossed her arms. She was like a damn dog with a bone. Tielle had an urge to tell her to mind her own business, but the way Tielle was always up in Jamie’s stuff, she had no room to cop an attitude now. Jamie was her girl, there for her through thick and thin for more years than she could remember. Tielle knew better than to brush Jamie off with half excuses. Their studies came easily for Jamie, while Tielle had to study hard for every
A
she got. Jamie wasn’t buying some lame ass story.
“I was here helping you choose something to wear last night, and I didn’t see this.” She sat down, pulling Tielle down beside her. “Tell me the truth. You’re not up to something bad, are you, Tielle?
Drugs?”
Tielle burst out laughing. “Stupid. Hell no. Girl, you know I’m not like that. And what exactly can I get up to with a glucose solution? Sell it on the black market?”
Jamie laughed.
“Got that sugar, man.
Premium stuff.”
Jamie jumped up and pranced around like she wore a trench coat with hidden pockets for drugs. Tielle played along, hoping her friend would forget all the questions. After they had laughed through a few more jokes about selling sugar under the table, Jamie gave Tielle a pointed look, but she didn’t say another word. Tielle didn’t have to be told that Jamie hadn’t forgotten, nor was she fooled. She’d just let it drop.
Tielle had no idea what made her hide the truth from her friend. She’d always shared everything with Jamie, even details of her sex life, and vice versa. So what made her hide that she had saved Stone from an attack and brought him home? Maybe it was the fact that she’d brought a man she didn’t know to her place. Of course, it was extenuating circumstances, him being injured, but how could she explain that decision over taking him to the hospital. She couldn’t explain it. She couldn’t tell Jamie that for no reason at all she wasn’t able to resist Stone’s request.
In the light of day while she was much more alert, she went over what had happened in her mind, Stone’s words, her decisions, and none of it made sense. Maybe she wasn’t remembering it all the way it happened. That had to be the problem. After all it had been really late. She’d been drinking. Sure, one glass, but that was more than enough. She just prayed Stone was fine and that there would be no consequences to her actions that would come back and bite her in the ass. Either way, it was better to put it all behind her and pretend it never happened.
Now, forgetting Stone was a whole other ballgame because her dreams had been filled with images of him kissing her and his hand between her legs. Not a good sign!
Tielle lead Jamie into the kitchen, and she began to take out the food that they would prepare together for breakfast.
This was another of their rituals for the weekend, party late into the night on Saturday and eat
brunch together on Sunday. Sometimes they altered this routine by attending church, but that was when Jamie’s grandmother invited them to have Sunday dinner with her. The old woman would never hear of them not first attending First Baptist morning services before heading to her house.
Tielle sighed. She was not the best cook in the world. In fact, she hated it that she could never pull off a decent recipe, but Jamie’s grandmother put her foot in everything she prepared. Tielle always overate when she went to Nana Wells’ place.
For the next hour, Tielle sat in her tiny kitchen listening to Jamie recount every nasty detail of her sexual encounter with her lover. Tielle hooted over some of the crazy stuff they said to each other while in the throes of sex, and made mental notes of the more interesting moves. She’d thought she had done it all until Jamie came up with something new. The woman should write a book, Tielle kept telling her, but Jamie insisted her conquests were for her eyes and Tielle’s ears, if she behaved herself. Tielle always rolled her eyes and sucked her teeth over that statement.
When her phone rang, she put up a finger because she didn’t want to miss a second of what Jamie was saying, and she answered the call. “Hello?”
“Ms. Williams? Ms. Tielle Williams?” the person on the other end enquired.
Tielle paused for a second and then remembered she had paid off all outstanding bills. No creditors should be calling her. “Yeah, you got her. Who is this?”
“I’m—” The man stopped and coughed. That raised her suspicions—the hesitancy and the fact that the man spoke with the same lilt that Stone did—but she decided to hear him out. Maybe he had news of how Stone was doing. When his fake-sounding cough was done, the man continued. “I’m J-James Wallace, Stone Hughes’ secretary.”
Tielle’s eyes widened.
“For real?
He has a secretary? How is he? Is he okay?”
“Uh…uh…”
Again her suspicions rose, but she waited for him to finish.
“Uh, he’s all right. Had to take a rest after what he went through last night. Um, he thought maybe he told you the wrong date and time about when you two would meet again.” The sound of papers rustling reached her through the phone. “Now, when did he tell you he’d be by?”
Tielle knew when a person was lying to her. Hell, she’d done enough lying in her time when she went through a faze of seeing just how much she could get away with on her series of foster parents. She’d perfected the lies and knew even better how to detect them—even over the phone.
“Thursday,” she answered without hesitation.
“Thursday night at nine.
But we weren’t going to meet at my place. This time, we were going to meet at his.”
The man’s voice lightened, like he was thrilled she’d shared all that she did with him. If the person on the phone was really Stone’s secretary, he would know she’d never met him before last
night, that
is if he handled Stone’s personal life.
“Yes, yes,” the man chortled with glee that was a little on the sickening side.
“The penthouse on Collins then.
Okay, thank you. That confirms what I have. Good-bye.” He hung up without any more comment from Tielle, but right about then, she stood there in shock. Just how rich did Stone have to be to have a penthouse apartment? She knew
Tielle put her phone down and tapped her lip. Just what in the world was going on that first Stone was attacked, and now someone was pretending to be his secretary trying to find out when she’d meet him again. Was he in trouble? Was
she,
now that she’d gotten involved with him? Her stomach tightened at the thought. Her life was coming together great, and she’d set out some times of fun, balanced by getting serious about school. She had goals she needed to meet, and a man to bring in danger was not a part of the equation. Sure, in the movies, the bad boys were appealing, but Tielle was not one of those women who went after them. She knew better, and that’s why Jamie had checked her at the club. Stone was bad news. Even with her body still humming over those dreams, she wouldn’t give him the time of day. No way. Seeing him was too risky, and if she was going to get freaky calls like the one she just got, well, she’d keep it moving. There were plenty more scrumptious morsels of manhood out there.
“Back to school tomorrow, huh?”
Jamie said through a huge yawn.
“Yeah, don’t remind me,” Tielle complained.
“I thought you loved school.” Her friend stood up and kissed her cheek. “I think I’m going back home and sleep some more. That man wore me out.”
Tielle shook her head. “From the sound of it, I don’t wonder. Damn, I’m jealous. I should have looked harder for somebody. I mean there were quality guys we’ve been cultivating for weeks, right? I felt comfortable with taking anyone of them home.”
“Yeah but you were ruined by that one.” Jamie’s look was significant. Tielle ignored it and let
herself
fall over the arm of her couch to land on one of the stuffed pillows she kept there. On impact Stone’s scent filled her nostrils. Her pussy moistened, and she groaned. Yeah, Stone had ruined it for all other men. She wanted his body bad. Men as hard and sexy as he was did not come along every day.
Just once
, she shouted in her mind and rolled over to her back.
No, better to forget him.
Okay, after a few more hot dreams.
Chapter Five
Stone strolled up to his apartment door and didn’t have to
pause
a millisecond before it opened. He knew he moved with easy stealth, part of his natural characteristics. Yet, James hadn’t missed once being ready for him. If Stone didn’t know any better, he’d assume James waited at the door all day and night for Stone to come home. That would be impossible as James was human, with no added abilities that Stone knew of. For his peace of mind, he liked to put it down to James being good at his job.
“Any messages?” he asked as he passed his secretary.
“Aye, a few thousand from your father,” came the irreverent reply. “He raked me over the coals nonstop to locate you and drag you home to Dublin, whether you liked it or not.”
On a sigh, Stone rubbed his neck and headed toward his room. While the bed appealed just because he’d not slept more than a couple hours and his mind told him he needed eight, he had to get home. “What about Uncle Murray.
Any new info on his condition.”
“Unchanged, sir.”
James helped him out of his shirt, but then Stone waved him off. He’d never allowed James to treat him like royalty who couldn’t dress or undress without help. Einin of course demanded that and more. So did a few others in his family. Thinking of them, Stone blew out another huge breath. He was not looking forward to the drama that without question would be present from the moment his plane set down.
“Arrange for the jet, James. I have no intension of staying there longer than I have to.”
“Just you, sir?”
James croaked. Stone almost laughed at the pitiful tone. James, though efficient as any person he’d ever worked with, lived in constant fear that Stone would fire him. Stone had given him no reason to feel that way, but bad experiences left scars in the psyche. James had worked for his cousin, Noah, and from what little James had shared about it, the experience was not pretty. Stone hadn’t pressed to know more details, and from the second James realized Stone was nothing like his cousin, the older man did all he could for Stone, to the point of being suffocating sometimes.
“Yes, just me.”
Stone shed the rest of his tattered clothing from the struggle in the alley and flexed his muscles. The last of the aches and pains rolled away. A glance at his arm showed no signs he’d been hooked to an IV. He rubbed the spot anyway. A nurse, he guessed, his Florence Nightingale. Sexy and beautiful, she was everything physically he could want in a woman. Was there more to her? “I want you to stay here and watch over someone for me.”
“Watch over? Me?”
Stone chuckled.
“Aye, you.”
He turned and brought a heavy hand down on his James’ shoulder. “All I want you to do is keep this particular woman from sleeping with any other man until I return. You can do that, can’t you, James?”
His secretary’s mouth fell open, and then the fear died from his eyes to be replaced by his usual straightforwardness. “Can the lass be that special, sir? You don’t usually go in for women who are so wild that you have to worry the minute you turn your back. Most often, I have to beat them away with a stick when you’re tired of them.”
James’ face took on a distinct look of disgust. Stone didn’t blame him, and he was right, the women Stone had taken into his bed tended to become clingy until he felt the need to break it off. No matter how much he reiterated that he was not interested in anything more than a physical relationship, they fell in love. Or thought they did. He wasn’t sure he believed it existed, so he couldn’t acknowledge their feelings were anything other than lust or infatuation.
Stone felt the need to explain. “I have chosen her for my bed, but I haven’t taken her yet. I don’t want another man between her legs before I get there. Do you understand now?”
Stone figured James was questioning in his mind where Stone had been all night if he hadn’t been bedding a woman, but Stone wasn’t going to tell him that part. James would just drive him further up the wall and delay Stone’s departure. Besides, he didn’t know if what happened tonight was him in the wrong place at the wrong time or if there was more to it. He’d have to investigate it when he got back.
James bent to pick up his clothes from the floor and frowned at their condition. “Mind telling me why your clothes are this way, sir? You’re usually so well kept together.”
“Not really, no.” Stone chose fresh clothes and tossed them on the bed. “I’m going to take a shower. Please put together a bag for me. I expect to be gone no more than a week. I’ll give you her name and address before I leave.” Stone started to close the bathroom door and paused. “James?”
“Sir?”
“I’m counting on you to keep her for me. I don’t care if she dates another man so long as she doesn’t take him home or he takes her home.”
“Aye, of course, sir.
Count on me.”
* * * *
The limo that had been waiting for Stone when he arrived at the airport rolled to a stop in front of his father’s castle. Stone shifted his shoulders and heaved a sigh. Now began all the pomp and circumstance, the self-importance that was what his father was all about. Perhaps he demanded so much of everyone around him because of his small stature, but it always grated on Stone that his parent expected him to be the same way. He was not like that. He didn’t need servants at his beck and call twenty-four hours a day.
The chauffeur ran around the long vehicle and popped Stone’s door open. The man bowed almost to the waist. “Have a good day, sir. I’ll have your cases in, in a jiffy.”
Stone nodded and headed up the steps to the entrance. Before he reached it, the door opened, and the butler bowed. “Mr. Hughes, sir. Good to see you.”
“Lawrence,” he greeted the elderly man. “Is my father around?”
“In his office, sir.
He’s waiting for you.” The butler snapped his fingers, and a maid appeared to take Stone’s suitcases to the room he occupied when he was at home. He took his time walking along the extended hall to his father’s office. The room was called an office, but it was so spacious and was filled with so many books, it might as well be a mini-library. Stone questioned whether his father had ever cracked any of them open.
He rested a hand on the doorknob and paused to collect himself before going inside. Einin had declared long ago when Stone was eight years old, a Hughes never knocked. He was too important to be kept waiting or to be granted permission for anything he wanted.
“Stone, come in,” his father boomed, standing up behind a desk too large for his stature. The massive oak construction served to dwarf him even more, but no one could tell him that. “You took your time getting here. I drilled James, but he became so flustered and was no use at all for giving me information. You need to replace him. I can name a few secretaries who will work out better.”
Stone closed the door behind him and crossed the room to first shake his father’s hand and then sit down. While he did, he tried recalling if the man ever hugged him or told him he was proud of him. Stone had no desire for either of those things, but he wondered about it. A mental shrug cast the thought aside.
“James works well for my needs, Father. Now, shall we discuss my uncle?”
The reddening in his father’s face amused Stone. The man hated when Stone didn’t cave to his wishes, but he’d raised him to be just as pigheaded as he was. Einin couldn’t blame anyone but himself.
“Yes, well I’ve had him brought here. He’s set up with our family doctor. However, it is the circumstances surrounding his accident that concern me—along with the fact that a great amount of his blood is missing.”
Stone’s own blood ran cold. “That’s an odd way to put it. What do you mean by ‘missing’?”
His father linked his hands behind his back and paced to the window to stare out. “As you know, the shifter heals faster than any human can. There are no distinguishing marks on your uncle’s skin to show where he might have been pierced. He does have a slow-healing gash over the right side of his abdomen where it was suspected that he’d lost the blood. Doctor Martin tells me that the laceration isn’t likely where he lost the blood. Your uncle is old, and he’s not healing to the extent that he once did, but there are signs that the clotting around the wound had begun immediately and was sufficient to keep him from bleeding to death.”
“So why so much blood loss?”
Stone mused.
“Exactly.”
His father spun to face him. “You will assist me as long as it takes to get to the bottom of this, Stone. I don’t have to tell you what it means to keep our family secrets just that—secret!”
“Of course.”
“When your uncle regains consciousness, you will question him about what happened, and perhaps we can find out who has done this. I have also sent for Noah, but he hasn’t arrived yet. He’s crafty. He should be able to glean some info from whomever it was your uncle was with in the days before this incident.” His father grunted in disgust. “I suspect there will be a long line of women to interview, but Noah can do that as well. You and I both know your uncle was never faithful the faithful type.”
Stone made a small sound of acknowledgement. His thoughts raced over what this all could mean. Had someone discovered their existence and wanted to exploit them? The last he’d heard, his uncle had been gallivanting all over Europe. Noah would also have his work cut out for him. The two of them didn’t get along very well, but Stone figured he’d give him a hand finding clues. Stone had many connections he’d made over the years, working with the family whiskey distillery business.
“I don’t want you tempted too much with those loose women. Your wife has already been selected, and all you need to do is make the decision to settle down. Monica is a faithful girl. She’s been waiting all this time for you, trusting you to do the right thing.”
Stone was familiar with the guilt trip his father tried laying on him regarding Monica, his father’s ward, and if there was anything Stone would use to describe the woman, ‘faithful’ was not it.
An excited shout in the hall caught his attention. As if she sensed they were speaking of her, Monica burst into the room and launched
herself
across the room to land on his lap.
“Stone!
Lawrence just told me you were here. Why didn’t you come up to see me in my sitting room?” Her pouty pink lips were somewhat appealing, but the innocence she exuded was not. The demure hairstyle, the moderate makeup, and the flattering but modest dress
was
all an act. No one knew like Stone knew what a hell cat Monica was. After all, they had been lovers for two years before he’d called it
quits,
finding that while they connected well physically, Monica’s heart was cold. She loved one thing—money. And she would do whatever it took to have it.
Monica was his father’s ward. He’d taken her in when she was about six years old to cultivate her he said in order for her to be Stone’s wife some day. While his father didn’t say so, Stone was sure the man had done a thorough background check on Monica’s family and delved into their medical history. He then would have paid off her family to sign over her care to him. Stone considered the very fact that any parents who would do such a thing were a black mark on her history. His father didn’t agree.
“Hello, Monica,” Stone said and helped her off his lap. She continued to pout, but squeezed into the chair next to him. Stone decided to vacate the seat and let her have it. No matter how much Monica tried to get back into his bed, he would not take it there. Neither she nor his father would corner him into making her his wife. When and if Stone decided to marry, the woman he chose would be his equal in and out of the bedroom. She would never be lured by his money alone. How he would find this paragon of virtue, he didn’t know, but if he didn’t, so be it. He would be the last of his kind on the earth, and that was a good thing with these issues surrounding his uncle.
“It’s been a long flight, Father. If you and Monica will excuse me, I think I’ll get some rest before dinner.”
Not waiting for either of them to respond, Stone pivoted and headed out of the room. From the rustle of her clothing and Monica’s protest, he figured she was about to follow him, but his father called her back. Stone was relieved. He did not feel like uncurling Monica’s sensuous body from his, especially when it had been days since he’d last been with a woman. He had every intension of “starving” himself until he could feast on Tielle.
* * * *
Stone stepped from the shower and ran a hand across the fogged mirror. His reflected eyes shifted while he watched them, changing from rounded pupils to that of a narrow slash. Whenever he was home, he longed to transform to the beast that lived deep inside of him, to fly and feel the wind beneath his wings.
Above the trickling water as it swirled down the bathtub drain, beyond his soap’s scent and the heavy steam that hung in the air, he heard her. Did she think he wouldn’t know she was there in his room?
He flexed his shoulders and nabbed his towel to begin drying off. As he did so, he heard Monica slip out of her clothes, tiptoe across his room, and climb into his bed. He sighed. What did she think she would accomplish? Had he not met Tielle, Monica would have tempted him beyond reason. Finding her in his bed would have led to an entanglement he’d already fought hard to be free from. Not again. This was why he had put an ocean between Monica and his father and him.
With the towel knotted around his waist, Stone stepped out the bathroom. “Why are you here, Monica?”
She pouted and stretched as if she didn’t notice that the sheet covering her naked figure had lowered to reveal her breasts. Stone shifted his focus away from her and turned to his bureau. He pulled the top drawer open to retrieve boxers, but Monica leaped from the bed and pressed herself to him from behind. Her firm breasts flattened against him, and she stuck out her tongue to run it along his skin. Stone’s fingers tightened on the boxers.
