Embraced by Fire (35 page)

Chapter 34

Kait watched as Adrian walked away. There was something unsettling about a man who was so in control, although she was glad he was here to deal with Johnny. Her former friend, no, her former co-worker, no friend would be involved with trying to kill her.

Her former co-worker was sitting on the ground looking dejected and shooting occasional glances toward her and Ryu. She was glad he wasn’t the coldblooded killer who’d tried to take Derek’s life with such awful accuracy.

She shivered and looked up at Ryu. “I was so scared. I thought he was going to kill me.” She glanced over at Hass, still crouched by Derek. “Derek might still die.”

Ryu reached out and rubbed his hands over her arms. “Scared is a normal reaction when dealing with gun toting madmen.”

“Were you scared?” He hadn’t look scared, he had looked powerful.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been more afraid in my life than when I saw his finger tightening on the trigger.” She felt his hands tighten around her arms.

“I still don’t know how you reached him in time, I was so sure I was going to be killed.”

“You know what they say about fear, it gives your feet wings.” He smiled but she knew it was for her benefit.

Kait pulled a tissue out of her pocket and hesitantly began wiping the blood already drying on Ryu’s face. “You know the weirdest thing, for a moment it looked like you really did have wings—not on your feet, I mean real wings, like an angel.”

Ryu chuckled. “I’m anything but an angel.” He took the tissue from her still trembling fingers.

“That man sounded like he saw something as well, only he thought you were a demon. What’s going on, some kind of mass hallucination? Well, not mass, since it’s only the two of us, but you know what I mean.”

Ryu rubbed the back of his neck as he looked at her awkwardly. She struggled to process his expression. Why wasn’t he laughing off her comment?

“Ryu?” she asked hesitantly.

“Remember how I said things were complicated, I may have understated the issue.”

“What are you talking about?” Something wasn’t right. She rubbed her palms nervously against her legs. She felt the way she did in horror movies when she was waiting for something to jump out. Waiting, knowing something was coming, but somehow when it came it still caught her unprepared.

“The world isn’t as clear-cut as you’ve always thought—”

“I’ve never thought the world was clear-cut,” she said, confused. “The world is a crazy, messed up place, just look at Johnny.”

“Then what I have to say next should be easier to take but I doubt it.”

“What are you talking about, Ryu? You’re starting to scare me.” She hugged herself, her hands holding tight to her elbows.

The sound of sirens cut the air and they both looked over as two police cars powered into the lot, stopping with a screech of rubber on gravel. An ambulance, its siren running a cross rhythm, stopped close behind, paramedics quickly jumping out the back. It reminded Kait of the fire, and her lips tightened at the unpleasant memory.

Delilah grabbed the paramedics’ attention, leading them over to Derek. Several armed police officers poured out of the squad cars and hurried over to where Adrian was standing with Johnny.

Kait watched as the paramedics lifted Derek onto a gurney, then the ambulance sped out of the lot, sirens blaring. She blinked rapidly. Derek was shot defending her. She might never see him again, but she was never going to forget him.

She turned and watched as the police officers spoke with Adrian and took custody of Johnny and the other men. All through the burst of activity, Ryu stood silently beside her, a wall of strength. Whatever he had been about to tell her, it would have to wait, it looked like they were about leave. But first, there was someone she needed to speak to.

She touched Ryu’s arm. “Give me a moment.”

As the police officer holding Johnny walked past them she hurried forward and snagged Johnny’s sleeve. “Johnny.”

The police officer holding him glared at her and would have pulled Johnny away, but a look from Ryu stopped him. Kait barely noticed the byplay as she looked at her erstwhile friend.

“How could you?”

Johnny looked away, unable to meet her eyes. “Money.”

“I thought we were friends.” She held out her hands imploringly. “Money was enough to make you betray me?”

He finally brought his eyes to hers and a wealth of pain and regret drowned the usually vibrant colour. “It’s like I told you in the park, I needed money for my mother’s care. I never thought things would go this far. It started so small, so easy.” He shrugged.

“They kept offering more money if I would do more. I got in deeper and deeper without even realising how far I’d gone. I put mom in a better facility, full-time nursing care.” He looked at his shoes. “She’s been looking so much better. I thought I was saving her, but this might kill her.”

“I…I can understand trying to help you mother, understand but not condone. But trying to kill me. How could you?” Tears were welling up in her eyes and she blinked them away furiously.

Johnny stepped forward, only to be jerked back abruptly by the officer. “Oh, Kait, no. I never tried to hurt you. I didn’t want you involved at all. I wrecked your car so you’d run, but I tried to stop them burning your house, from…killing you.” His voice stuttered on the last two words.

“Why did they do it?”

“They saw you hand me something when we were talking. A man called Razor worried about how much you knew. The best way to stop you talking was to kill you. A house fire would have been passed off as an accident, no one would have looked too closely. I tried to stop them, but they knocked me unconscious and they’ve kept me in the warehouse ever since.”

“You should have told me what was going on.”

Johnny glanced at Ryu. “I didn’t know you had friends in useful places.”

Kait glanced at Ryu too, his face stoic as he listened. “I didn’t know I did either, but we could have worked something out.”

“Life is never as simple as one wants it to be.” Johnny looked vacantly above her head. “I’m glad it’s over.”

Kait wanted to tell him it would be okay now, but she really didn’t know if it would be. Instead she said, “Keep safe. I’ll do what I can, and I’ll visit your mother.”

“Thank you.” He looked back at her. “And I’m sorry for everything.”

Kait watched as he walked away and was helped into the waiting police car. When Johnny vanished from sight, she turned and pressed her face into Ryu’s chest. Her breathing hitched as his arms came around her, hugging her tight.

“I’ll let you know what happens. Johnny will co-operate, that’ll help.”

“I wish this had never happened.”

Ryu’s finger tipped her chin up so he could look into her eyes. “Then I never would have met you. I’m not sorry for that.”

She sighed. “Neither am I.”

Turning she looked across the gravel lot. Adrian nodded to the remaining police officer and headed in their direction. Time to leave.

They bundled back into the van and, as it took off with a shudder, she wondered where they were taking her. Her house was a burned-out shell and now Johnny was captured, there was no reason for Ryu to stick around. She swallowed hard at the thought of Ryu leaving. He was attracted to her, but he’d clearly been upset to discover she was a virgin. He kept trying to talk to her and the stress on his face suggested he was looking for a way to let her down easy.

She wouldn’t hold him if he didn’t want to stay. Being an honourable man, guilt might drive him to stick around when all he wanted to do was get the hell out of Dodge. She would make sure he knew he was free.

She took a deep breath. She was a grown-up, she made the choice to sleep with him without promises, and she would live with the consequences.

Her heart squeezed and she rubbed her hand over her chest absently. She would never be the same. Her time with Ryu had changed her. She’d discovered she had the strength to cope with crazy things being thrown at her. Things she’d never expected to be able to cope with. She swallowed hard as she remembered Derek’s lifeblood, wet and warm. Her hands the only things holding back death.

She’d also thrown aside a childhood infatuation and found the real man underneath, found she loved the reality more than she ever loved the dream. And she’d chosen to love him with her body as well as her heart.

The van pulled to a halt, and she realised she’d been lost in thought the whole ride. She glanced instinctively at the windows before remembering they were blacked-out.

“Where are we?” she asked, leaning toward Ryu.

“Back at the motel.” He unbuckled his seatbelt.

“Why don’t you take Kait into the other room, the rest of us can tidy up,” Adrian said to Ryu.

Ryu nodded and Kait trailed behind him as they headed back to the room where, not long ago, Ryu had kissed her senseless. They were going to be alone, and while she’d rather he kissed her senseless again, she suspected this time he would control himself. This time they would talk.

She shook her head. Actually however much she wanted to kiss him, she wanted to talk more. They needed to talk, she had questions of her own. First on the list was her crazy vision. She needed to know if something was wrong with her.

What was her world coming to, hallucinations and murder?

Chapter 35

Ryu closed the door behind him with a click. The curtains hadn’t been opened and the motel room was humid and murky. He ran his fingers through his hair. The police had arrived at precisely the wrong moment or was that the right one? Standing in the car park hadn’t been the right place to tell her, but tell her he must, and now was as good a time as any.

“Kait?”

“Yes?”

He walked over to where she was standing by the bed pulling the curtains open to let in some light. “Before the police arrived we were talking…”

She turned and looked at him. “You were going to explain why the man with the gun and I were seeing angels and demons. Some kind of drug? How did I get exposed? Was it because of Johnny?” she asked with remarkable composure.

Ingenious, but not even close to the truth. “Not demons and angels—dragons,” he said.

Her brow concertinaed. “What?”

“What you were seeing, it was a dragon.”

“What are you talking about? I saw you with…” she waved her hands vaguely, “… ephemeral wings.”

“Kait.” He took a deep breath. He couldn’t believe how hard it was to get the words out. “You weren’t seeing things. I’m not human. I’m a shapeshifter. I can turn into a dragon.”

She blinked slowly, then stared at him as if worried her hallucinations were moving from visual to aural.

“I’m a dragon,” he said. He wanted to touch her, to soothe his soul-bonded mate, but touching her right now seemed like a very bad idea.

“You’re a dragon.” Disbelief dripped from the words.

“I told you the world was stranger than you believed.”

She backed away, never taking her eyes off him, and headed for the door. “I’m going to get Adrian, it’s clear you hurt your head more than we thought.”

He stared at her. Should he let her go? She clearly wasn’t ready for this. The bond tightened uncomfortably and the dragon gave a roar in his heart. Kait tripped, righting herself before she fell, her eyes wider than they had been before.

Looking at her he knew...She’d seen the change in his eyes as the dragon roared.

He couldn’t let her go. Right now she thought he was a raving lunatic and, he thought with a grim smile, if she left she would be right.

“Kait, wait. My head’s fine. I know this sounds crazy, but please give me a chance.”

She wavered, glancing over her shoulder at the door, then gave a jerky nod. “You saved my life. But please don’t expect me to believe in dragons. If you don’t want to see me again you can just say so, you don’t have to try scaring me away.”

Scare her away? He looked at her incredulously. “I’m not trying to scare you away.” He took several rapid steps toward her. “The last thing I want to do is scare you away, Kait.”

Her eyes flickered across his face nervously. “Have you talked to someone about this?”

“Talked to someone? I’m talking to you.” His brain scrambled to catch up with the direction the conversation was taking.

“I’m sure your boss could recommend someone. Maybe it’s post-traumatic stress syndrome of some kind,” she said earnestly.

The light dawned, that kind of
talk to someone.
“Adrian knows. He believes me. Could you give me a chance, I want you to believe me, too.”

“He knows?”

“Yes, Adrian knows.” Ryu picked up one of her hands gently.

He waited until she looked down at her dainty, freckled hand resting in his bigger, stronger one.

“Watch,” he whispered, as he lifted his other hand and covered hers.

Slowly, he let the dragon out from under his skin. They both watched as the hand covering hers
shifted
.

He kept it unhurried, in what he suspected was going to be a vain hope not to scare her. Gradually, shimmering copper scales replaced his skin, small and delicate around his fingers to allow for mobility, getting bigger as they moved up his wrist. His fingers and nails changed too, fingers lengthening, nails sharpening.

He looked up to watch her expression. Her green eyes huge in her pale face as she stared at his hand. He wasn’t sure she was still breathing until he saw the small hitch in her chest. He stopped the
shift
. That was enough for now, he didn’t want to show her the full dragon until she was ready and she was barely ready for this much.

The dragon inside him ached to touch her. Taking a risk, he lifted his
shifted
hand and ran the back of his fingers across her cheek before letting it drop back over her hand. If dragons could purr then that’s what the one living in his skin was doing as the memory of her soft skin tingled.

She reached out with her free hand and hesitantly pushed up the sleeve of his shirt. Her eyes unblinking as she stared at the scales spreading up his arm. With soft, tremulous fingers, she touched his wrist.