Haunted By Her Dragon (The Dragon Guard Series) (15 page)

“Yes,
Lance. I agree.”

“Good.”
He winked and moved a half a step back, releasing her body but still holding
her hands.

As
the cool antiseptic air of the hospital moved between them, she realized how
much she missed the warmth of his body, even craved what she had never felt
with another. He let one of her hands fall to her side, but wound his fingers
through the other as they headed for the door. Any other time in her life, she
would have fought to get away, to be by herself, to regain her composure. She’d
never even spent the entire night with any of her lovers, always finding an
excuse to escape and return to her solitary life. But there was just something
about this man that made her throw all her old habits, along with her common
sense, right out the window. If she wasn’t careful, he was going to find his
way into her heart, and that was something she was in no way ready for or had
the time for.

They
exited the room to find Royce and Devon, along with a stunning, dark-haired
woman that she knew immediately was the attorney she’d heard speaking to the
detective. There was a man at the woman’s back with the most unusual amber
eyes. From the possessive way he cupped her shoulder, he had to be her husband.
An almost identical copy of him, but with deep blue eyes, stood to his right.
They were huge, and it appeared that their muscles had muscles. She knew
immediately they had to be the more of Lance’s
brothers
.

“Hey,
Samantha…I mean Sam,” Devon waved.

“Hi,
Devon,” she answered and looked to the gentle giant.
“Hi,
Royce.
  How are you?”

“I’m
fine, Samantha. How are you holding up?”

“Good,
thank you,” she answered and smiled.

He
and Lance gave each other a hard time, but she could tell they truly cared for
one another as only brothers could.

She
looked at the woman smiling sweetly in her direction, just as Lance began to
speak.

“Doc,
this is Grace.” He pointed to the woman who returned her smile as she waved.
“And the mad man behind her is her ma…ah…husband, Aidan.”

“Nice
to meet you, Dr. Malone,” the couple answered in unison.

“Just
call me Sam, and thank you so much for coming to my rescue. It seems y’all have
had to do that a lot lately.” She chuckled and was about to move forward to
shake hands with the couple, when the one with deep blue, almost haunting eyes
spoke up. “I’m
Aaron,
by the way, since the wiseass
isn’t
gonna
introduce me.”

And
just like that, all residual tension from Sydney’s abduction, their questioning
by the police, and all that had happened between them, was gone. The entire
group of them was laughing like they didn’t have a care in the world. She felt
Lance’s arm go around her, and
her body,
that he had taken command of
without her knowledge, cuddled into him, never wanting to leave his side. When
she got home and had a few minutes to herself away from the intoxicating allure
of this man, she was definitely going to examine her own mental stability.
There was absolutely no way she could be falling for the big, overbearing,
overgrown child at her side. She didn’t have time for a relationship. She had
plans and goals, things she had to accomplish. Even as she thought of all the
reasons she should not fall for Lance, his hand found a little patch of bare
skin at her waist, and the electric shock from just that small touch caused her
heart to race. She was totally up shit’s creek without a paddle.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

He stood in the hall;
laughing with his brethren, his arm around Sam, and a sense of pride beyond
anything he’d ever imagined filled his being at the realization that she truly
was his. There was no way he was going to be able to stay away from her. He’d
been a fool to think he ever could. That one taste of her passion had sent him
past the point of no return. He wanted more, as quickly as possible and for as
long as possible. He and his dragon were working overtime with visions of all
the ways they could enjoy their perfect mate. But there was still the problem
of the traitor, and for the first time in Lance’s very long life, he was going
to have to be careful and think of the consequences of his actions before
acting.

Sam’s
safety, and that of the little girl she held dear, was all that mattered. No
way was he letting anything happen to her. It was even more inconceivable after
what they had shared. He’d seen first-hand what Andrew was capable of where the
mates of the Dragon Guard were concerned. He also had personal knowledge of
what it felt to lose someone special. It was a feeling he had sworn many years
before to never feel again, and he would do whatever possible to make sure he
never did.

Sam
tensed next to him, and he was surprised she didn’t move from his side when her
friend Charlie approached, pushing Sydney in a small wheelchair. The child was
all smiles and only had eyes for his mate. “Hi, Dr. Sam,” the girl giggled and
he watched each of his brethren fall under her spell. “Dr. Charlie said I get
to leave the hospital and go stay with Ms. Grace and Mr. Aidan. Isn’t that
cool?”

His
body immediately felt the loss as Sam jumped from his side and stood in front
of Grace. He could feel her confusion and more than a little suspicion. Taking
his cues from Aidan, since he was mated to Grace and seemed to be doing okay,
he hung back and waited.

Aiming
her question right at Grace, Sam’s voice was sterner than he’d thought
possible. “What is the meaning of this, Mrs. O’Brien? Are you also a doctor?
How can you remove this child from the hospital?” Sam’s shoulders rose and fell
as she took a long deep breath. She was just about to lose her composure, but
it was her fight, no matter how much he wanted to jump in.

 He
watched Grace’s face show complete patience and understanding as she answered
his mate. “I understand your confusion Dr. Malone, but I’m sure you will agree
that the hospital has proven they are not able to keep Sydney safe.”

Sam
nodded, and Grace continued.  “Lance explained the situation when he
called for my help. I took it upon myself to get an order of temporary custody
for Sydney while also preparing any paperwork I may need to ensure you two were
released from the less than legal questioning you were forced to endure. Since
I did not know your complete legal name and address, and was unable to get back
in touch with Lance,” she shot him a look at him that he knew had caused many
criminals to cringe, “I used Aidan and myself as temporary guardians and our
address as her place of residence until other arrangements can be made. You are
more than welcome to stay with us until everything is sorted. We have a big
house just outside the city and have made provisions for her safety.” 

He
could tell from the tension in Sam’s shoulders that she was still not happy
with what was going on. He still had so much to learn about his mate, but he
did know that she needed time to think things through and having this sprung on
her did not sit well. As her unease rose, his need to comfort her became almost
overwhelming, something so foreign to him he was not sure how to react. Just
about to move to her side, he stopped short when Aidan’s voice sounded through
their link.
“Chill out, Bro. Grace has it under control. Your doc is just
protecting what’s hers, and you need to stay put and let her work it out. No
hot-dogging. You hear me?”

“Yeah,
I hear
ya
,
Asshole, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
Lance almost growled.

“Damn,
how the mighty have fallen.”
Aidan chuckled through
his mind. “
I’m loving
this shit.”

“Isn’t
it great to see the little pain in the ass all tied up in his underwear?”
Royce threw his two cents into the conversation.

Before
Lance could answer, Aaron decided to get in on the fun.
“I cannot wait until
they are formally mated. She is
gonna
give him a run
for his money.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
”

Feeling
ganged up on and truly despising each and every one of his brethren, he was
plotting his reply when he heard Sam speak, more in control of her emotions
than before, “I’d definitely like to go with you and make sure you have
everything she needs. She’s still recovering from her surgery and a fever we
have yet to diagnose. I apologize for losing my temper. Thank you very much for
taking care of all the paperwork. My dealings with her social worker could be
described as hostile at best.” She halfway chuckled, and he could feel her
acceptance through their growing bond.

Grace
smiled and took a few steps forward until she stood in front of his mate. She
reached out and grabbed Sam’s hand, holding it for a just a second before
speaking again. “You’ll get used to us taking care of one another the more you
get to know us. The guys tend to take things too far and act like Neanderthals.
If you have any problem with that one, you just let me know.” She dropped Sam’s
hand and pointed right at him and winked. “Together, I’m sure we can take him
down a peg or two.” And with that, the two women laughed like lifelong friends.
He could only imagine what hell was coming his way.

Not
wanting to think about it any longer, he walked over and slid his arm around
Sam’s waist, while turning them to face Sydney. “You ready to go, Kiddo,” he
asked.

“I
sure am, Lance, but I don’t want to ride in this wheelchair. Can you carry me?”

He
looked down at Sam for confirmation, and when she nodded, he knelt down to let
Sydney crawl into his arms. She latched onto his neck, and he stood turning to
face the others. “Have you met everyone, Sydney?”

“Yes,
I did while you and Dr. Sam were talking in the other room. Mr. Royce said I
should ask you what you were talking about.”

The
whole group erupted into laughter as he frowned and Sam blushed. He knew it was
one of about a million things they were going to use to get back at him for all
he’d done to them. Looking down at Sydney patiently waiting for his answer,
unaware that she was being used to get back at him and not one to be outdone,
he thought quickly. “We were deciding what to have for dinner tonight. I heard
a rumor that you like cheese pizza.”

The
child’s eyes lit up as she nodded her head and looked to Sam. “Can we have
cheese pizza, Dr. Sam, please, please, oh please?”

Forgetting
her embarrassment, Sam smiled, “Yes, we can have cheese pizza, but we also need
to make sure they have red Jell-O and animal crackers in case your tummy starts
to hurt again.”

“Oh,
I already told Miss Grace, and she said Mr. Royce and Mr. Devon would stop at
the store for us. Isn’t that cool?”

Again,
the entire group was laughing. For the first time in many years, he was truly
happy. Not cracking jokes and acting like an idiot to keep everyone going, but
truly happy, and it was all because of the woman standing by his side. He
really was an idiot to have thought he could have stayed away from her. The
Universe may not make mistakes, but
She
damn
sure knew how to screw with a guy’s sanity.

Four
hours and countless bouts of laughing later, the fridge was packed with red
Jell-O and the cabinet with animal crackers, along with anything else Royce had
decided Sydney might need. The big guy was going to make a kick-ass dad. He
literally thought of everything. Eight large pizzas had been devoured, and they
had watched “How to Train Your Dragon”, a DVD Grace had gotten Aidan as a joke.
Sydney loved it, and he and his brethren had watched while barely keeping a
straight face. Where in the hell did cartoonists get their crazy ass ideas?

He’d
decided to walk the perimeter of Grace and Aidan’s land to make sure all the
young Guardsmen and
werepanthers
were in place. He
knew what had happened at the hospital had just been a prelude to Andrew’s true
plan, and that the little bastard was really good at creating chaos. He nodded
to
Jace
, one of the youngest of the group, but by far
the most promising, “Anything suspicious?”

“No,
sir, nothing at all.”
Lance cringed at the use of ‘sir’.
He knew it was the way Rayne and the others were training them, but he hated
how old it made him feel.

“Good.
Just make sure you stay alert.”

“Yes,
sir.
Absolutely, sir.”

“Good
job, but you can drop the ‘sir’ crap with me. Lance is fine.” Lance chuckled,
not wanting to break the young man’s spirit, but really hating that he had been
called sir three times in the span of thirty seconds.

“Yes,
si
…
ummm
….Yes, Lance.”

“Better.”
He nodded his approval, and the younger man smiled. “Now stay alert, and let us
know if you hear
anything
.”

“Yes…Lance.”

The
young man was going to make an excellent Guardsman, but he really needed to
lighten up. Chuckling, Lance turned on his heels and resumed his perusal of the
grounds. As usual, Royce had done a great job with the tactical positions of
all the men, and he could sense the
werepanthers
moving through the tree branches.