Treasure Lane Dragons: Complete Series (BBW Paranormal Dragon Shapeshifter Romance) (32 page)

She bit her lower lip, turning her gaze away from it.

Play it cool,
she urged herself, quieting the maddening pounding of her heart.
Do this right and maybe things can work out with Cillian. This is the only way to give it a chance.

The crowd of werewolves and their mates still kept their eyes on their leader and his bride. Ruby cast a long look across the gathered and smiled brightly, batting her lashes like she was just about the most innocent little thing they had ever seen. A few smirks stared back at her, both knowing and judging. She paid no heed.

The only face that mattered to her was that of Yaya’s, who was sandwiched at a table between Trident and another red-bearded biker whose name Ruby assumed she had once known. After a while, all of one’s captors started looking the same. Yaya gave her an encouraging smile, her warm brown eyes projecting calm when there was none in Ruby’s heart. She nodded slightly to Yaya.

May the games begin!

“Cable, I don’t know what you had planned for tonight, but I feel like I owe everyone a good night. Of course we can party even harder tomorrow, but I think I’ve learned the error of my ways and I’d like to make up for it, you know?”

Cable looked at her, quirking a brow. Still, his half-bemused and obviously satisfied grin at having caught the little runaway bride, lingered without faltering. It gave Ruby hope that doing what she intended to wouldn’t be entirely impossible.

“And what are you proposing?”

“Well, I thought we could have some shots… Lots of shots! Tequila. Your favorite,” she rushed to add with a grin, trailing her fingertips along the length of his chin and purring into his ear the way he liked it.

She was sure he could feel the way she was trembling a little all over, but maybe he thought it was just excitement from seeing him. After all, if he thought she was simple enough to forgive getting drugged and being dragged through countless states against her will, anything was possible, right?

Cable seemed to ponder this for a few moments and then yelled out to some of his pack, his voice booming over the music and making Ruby’s ears ring.

“Runt! Roamer! Get the tequila out! My woman wants to party!” Cable’s exclamation was met by a round of cheers, and Ruby couldn’t help but giggle, exchanging another conspiratory glance with Yaya.

Now for the hard part.

***

The night wore on quickly, lubricated by hard music and even harder drinks. It took about three shots to get the first people on the dance floor, and by the fifth shot, the floor was turning into some bastardization of a mosh pit and the scene one can find at a club at four in the morning.

Some were jumping around to their own version of the beat while a few couples clung to one another, half-dancing, half-humping the night away. Ruby kept calling shot after shot until Cable took over the task. She knew she couldn’t out-drink any of the bikers, but maybe all she needed was to get them a little bit tipsy and reckless. At least, that was what she was hoping.

Cable grabbed her ass as she stood up to accept the sixth round of shots while handing one to Cable. She giggled flirtatiously, ignoring the fact that it sounded a bit strangled to her own ears.

“This time, we drink to the Crimson Fang Riders! The baddest motherfuckers in Chicago!” Cable roared, making everyone stop what they were doing and grab for their drinks.

Ruby clinked her glass together with Cable’s, and while he downed the drink, she spilled most if not all of hers on the floor while he wasn’t watching – just like she’d done with the last three or four of them. Still, the heat roared through her veins, giving her confidence where there had been none and making her just a tiny bit surer of what she was doing.

I can do this,
she told herself.

For once, she could call the shots, even if it took a little help from her friend. Her plan was to get everyone drunk and create a bit of a diversion so she could call for Cillian with the help of his pendant. The last thing she wanted was for him to get hurt, but the man clearly knew what he was doing. If it looked like too much for him to handle, he’d think of something else. At least he’d know she was still alive. Part of her wanted to devise a grand escape all on her own and disappear into the nether, but the garage complex was heavily guarded, and if there was one thing Ruby was sure of, then it was that Cable wasn’t going to let her out of his sight again.

Cable was wiping his mouth dry with the back of her hand when Ruby signaled to Yaya, who was hanging onto Trident’s neck on the dance floor as if nothing bad had happened between them at all while holding two empty shot glasses in her hands. Ruby watched with bated breath as Yaya untangled herself from Trident and put on her best drunk girl act.

Ruby had to suppress a smile as she watched Yaya twirl around flailing bodies, making a bit of an uneven beeline towards her and Cable. Yaya grabbed two full shot glasses from a nearby table and put on her biggest smile.

“The happy couple! You don’t know how glad I am that you two are getting hitched! Maybe Trident will take the hint and propose as well, eh!” Yaya screeched and started to hand the drinks to Cable.

Just before she reached Cable, she stumbled and spilled the drink all over him. Ruby had been anticipating that and jumped up immediately, gasping with mock-surprise. Cable grunted, standing up with Yaya sprawled in his arms, murmuring rushed apologies, and the glasses shattering on the floor.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry!” Yaya wailed, her legs going to mush as Cable tried to help her up. She just stumbled again, almost bringing Cable down with her.

In the bustle, Ruby’s hands worked as quick as lightning. She yanked at the chain around Cable’s neck, while pretending to help Yaya to her feet. Cable brushed her aside, not paying any heed to the fact that the hand he was shoving aside held the glowing pendant. Exhilaration coursed through Ruby’s veins as the pendant locked in her palm.

“It’s okay, Yaya. I think Trident needs to put you away,” Cable grumbled.

Ruby looked up, still holding onto the pendant as Trident rushed towards her, his eyes on Ruby instead of his fallen girlfriend.

“Shit,” Ruby murmured, seeing the anger in his eyes.

Trident hadn’t missed the fact that she had snatched the necklace, and by the look he wore, he wasn’t about to let her get away with it.

Ruby briefly considered running, but the mass of sweaty bikers around her and the high heels she was wearing made it a pretty obvious no-go. Instead, she squeezed her eyes shut and put both of her hands around the pendant.

Cillian, pleasepleaseplease hear this! I’m okay. Cable’s got m…
she thought before Trident’s hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around so fast she almost fell over.

“Fucking give that back, NOW! You stupid bitch,” he roared, smacking the pendant from her hand so hard that Ruby was sure he had cracked a bone or two in her hand.

She scrambled after it, but he shoved her aside, sending her flying into Cable and tumbling down on the floor.

Trident had the pendant in his hand before Ruby could do anything, and when she looked up at Trident and Cable, their faces spoke of nothing but complete and utter rage.

“Shit,” Ruby mumbled to no one in particular, glancing over to Yaya.

She was now taking up some space right next to her and a white plastic lawn chair on the filthy, crowded floor.

“You said that right,” Yaya murmured in response.

“Give that back,” Ruby hissed at Trident.

The large man just snorted in reply, giving life to fury in Ruby that could easily match that of Trident’s and Cable’s. She was without options now, but one thing was certain – as soon as the opportunity to change this dire situation into something better presented itself, she was going to be all over it.

Something told Ruby that her fiancée wasn’t exactly going to enjoy the rest of the evening. All she could hope for now was that Cillian had heard her call, and that he wouldn’t do anything
too
stupid because of it.
 

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Cillian

Cillian was in the mood to do something really stupid. Or, to be more precise, he wasn’t in a mood for anything that wouldn’t lead him immediately to his mate, and from what he could tell, that meant that the only available options were stupid. For once, he didn’t really mind that. A sharp jab of relief had rushed through him when he’d felt Ruby’s call, and before his mind could process it, his body was already rushing towards Ruby’s location, so clear in his mind as if someone had given him a map and written her exact location on it in big red marker.

His dragon struggled against him, demanding to be let out. Cillian gritted his teeth as he ran through the late night streets of Chicago, his footsteps on the pavement just about the only sound at that ungodly hour.

He knew he could get there faster in his dragon form, but he was afraid of what he might do if he were to let the dragon take control. All through the night, he had felt his control over himself slipping, right down to when he threw Carrick out of the window. Sure, the man was a dragon, and rationally it was feasible that he could react fast enough to turn and escape the way he had, but Cillian was more than certain that his rational self had had nothing to do with what had happened.

It was all the work of his dragon, hurt and outraged that his brother had tried to play him and put his mate’s life in danger. Carrick would have to make himself real scarce if he wanted to keep his head on his shoulders. But Carrick was the least of his problems right now.

A thousand thoughts raced through him as he got closer and closer to Ruby, that infallible sense of direction leading him straight to her. He knew she had to be well guarded, and that this time, he wouldn’t have the element of surprise on his side. Still, the last time he had faced the bikers, he hadn’t been aiming to maim, just to hurt, and he had done well enough. Plus, last time they hadn’t royally pissed him off and made him see red like never before.

This time, they had his mate, and he was a dragon past the point of playing nice. Cillian was half-expecting to turn into his dragon-form the moment he laid eyes on Ruby, the ancient need to protect the princess taking over every part of him.

Just as long as you don’t hurt her in the process,
he told himself, his muscles becoming rigid as the dragon roared its agreement.

A fixer he may be, but sometimes even he was incapable of making something go away without spilling some blood.

The irony of the whole situation still loomed over him, mocking him heartily. That too he chose to ignore. His skin tingled as he got closer, and by the time he could hear the tin of the loud music coming from one of the garage complexes in the otherwise quiet part of town, his hands had balled into fists and each step he made was marked by a slim, dark plume of smoke spiraling into the air.

Game on.

Some bikers were standing near a half-opened door, laughing and smoking next to their chromed bikes. Looking at the bikes, Cillian wanted to hit himself for not realizing that he could have taken his own bike. Apparently he really wasn’t thinking straight that night. His steps didn’t even slow as he plowed through the three large, burly men, sending them flying into the walls or falling over their bikes. As he entered the building, the only indication that he had had any confrontation at all, was just a slight stinging in his fists.

The pain that crunched through his hands made him reach for the brass knuckles in his pockets and slip them on. They had spikes at the top of each ridge and resembled dragon claws.

“Hey, where the fuck do you think you’re going?” a voice yelled as Cillian walked through a narrow corridor lined with doors, heading deeper into the complex and closer to where the sounds of the music were coming from.

He spun around, facing a bearded man twice his size, and as if in a haze, he had already brought the man to his knees and was punching him in the face so hard that he left a streak of blood on the wall as he slid to the floor. Cillian barely felt a thing. His dragon fought against the last slivers of his self-control.

When he entered the large central room, lowly lit and still crammed with bodies with heavy metal blaring over the speakers, his vision blurred at the edges and he could faintly tell that all eyes immediately landed on him. Before his mind caught up with him, he’d already brought two of the men down, his fists the tools for carnage as the hapless werewolves fell under his punches.

“Ruby!” he snarled, his brass knuckles digging into the soft skin of someone’s chin and his elbow connecting with a chest.

“Cillian!” he heard, the sweetest sound in the universe.

He paused for a split second, spinning towards the source of the sound. His eyes focused on a vision in red, standing in the middle of the room with Cable and a few of his flunkies close around her. His heart jumped, and the madness felt more real than ever, clawing at him and asking, no, telling him to let the dragon loose on all those fools who stood between him and his bride.

“Get him!” he heard an unfamiliar voice and matched it to the large, bulky looking guy standing next to Cable, his dull gray eyes bright with excitement.