Saved by Darkness Read online

She didn’t back away, just stared at him with a mix of emotions, confusion being the main one. But there was a hint of lust, one she couldn’t hide.

  “I won’t kill the male since he’s your brother.” It was the only concession he could give her. He tried not to kill in the fighting ring but it wasn’t always avoidable. Sometimes his opponents pushed and pushed, refusing to yield until death for them was the only option.

  Her eyes widened even more before she just shook her head. “Foolish male.”

  Foolish? She was truly concerned about his well-being even if she appeared to think he was weak. That thought rankled him. He would have to show her he was a worthy male—strong enough for her. “Will you have dinner with me tomorrow night?”

  “If you get in the ring with my brother in a few hours, you won’t be around to have dinner with me tomorrow,” she snapped, her hands going to her curvy hips.

  His dragon blazed to life at her words. She truly thought he was weak. He didn’t much care what other supernaturals thought about him, but her words… He needed to show her how strong he was. Something primitive and dark flared inside him at the challenge. “If I survive, you’ll have dinner with me.”

  “That doesn’t sound like a question.”

  He didn’t respond, just watched her and breathed her in. Her scent was addictive and was making it hard to think clearly, much less talk. His demon side didn’t like the lack of control, but his dragon side didn’t care. At all. He could roll around in her scent; wanted to bathe in it, live in it.

  She huffed out an impatient sigh. “Fine. If you manage to survive, I’ll go to dinner with you. Just…reconsider what I said.”

  He snorted. Her brother was the one who should walk away. “Meet me at Mandina’s tomorrow night. Six o’clock?” He wanted to lock down a time and place. Because this was a female he couldn’t let walk away. He’d be a fool to do so.

  She hesitated for a moment, blew out another frustrated breath, then nodded. “I’ll be there.”

  That was all he needed to hear.

  Because her scent was starting to make his dragon get edgy, he turned and left the closet without another word. He’d fight her brother tonight, then see her tomorrow. He just hoped he didn’t have to hurt her brother too badly in the ring.

  Because he planned to show this captivating female that he was a worthy mate. Killing her brother wouldn’t do him any favors.

  Chapter 2

  Present day

  “Hey, man.” Ian shook Malloy’s hand once at the front of Bo’s supernatural-only club. His half-brother Bo was off on his honeymoon right now but he’d kept the club open, letting his family run it while he was gone. On the outside the place appeared nothing more than a warehouse. Since it was located near a marina and well away from prying eyes, any human who stumbled on it probably assumed it was for boat storage. “Busy tonight?”

  The ghoul lifted a shoulder. As head of security Malloy had a pulse on every aspect of the club. “Not bad for a Wednesday. Your brother and Liberty are in the office.”

  “Thanks.” He’d received a strange call from Rory, telling him he needed to talk to Ian about something important. Ian couldn’t imagine what, but wanted to get it out of the way. His brother had been acting a little strange since a couple days before Christmas.

  Inside the club, Ian immediately scanned the main bar, saw his half-sister Cynara bartending. She smiled at him, flashing her fangs before returning to her customers.

  Muted music filtered in from well-hidden speakers. Half the roped-off booths across the main dance floor already had the heavy curtains closed, giving the supernaturals inside privacy. There were no windows anywhere in the two-story building in case nosy humans stumbled on the property.

  The scent of sweat and sex filled the air, intermingling with the various perfumes. Men and women were on the half-dozen platforms, dancing and groping each other. Instead of moving through the throng of high-top tables near the bar, he skirted the edge of the club and only stopped when he reached a plain white door.

  It was unlocked, no doubt because Malloy had let Rory know he was here already. Once he was in the hallway, the music dimmed even more thanks to incredible soundproofing.

  The door to Bo’s office was already open, and inside he found Liberty sitting on Rory’s lap on a chair in front of the desk, curled into him like she belonged there. Which she did.

  Seeing them together and happily mated made him smile. His brother deserved a sweet female like her, someone who made him happy and who would do anything for him.

  The blond female smiled when she saw him, but didn’t move from Rory’s lap. Rory didn’t make a move to get up either. Since they had different mothers there weren’t as many familial markers between them—at least in human form. They both had darker hair, but Rory had a slight Scottish accent whereas Ian had a faint Irish one. And Rory’s eyes were green, or “mossy green” as Liberty had once told him. Whatever the hell that meant.

  “Wondering when you’d get here,” Rory murmured. “Traffic bad?”

  “Not really.” Biloxi could be busy, especially around five o’clock, but it hadn’t been worse than normal. Probably because things had slowed down after Christmas. People were tired of shopping and wanted to relax. Ian sat on the chair closest to them and propped his feet up on the desk. “So what’s up?”

  At his question Liberty shifted nervously in Rory’s lap before pushing to her feet. She moved to one of the bookshelves in the small office and started straightening books that didn’t need straightening. The female was mostly human and young by their standards. In her twenties, she’d been through the worst kind of hell so age didn’t really matter versus her shitty life experience. He respected the hell out of her for all she’d survived. She didn’t do well hiding her emotions, however.

  Rory’s body tensed slightly as he leaned forward. “Finn came to me with something right before Christmas. I didn’t want to ruin the holidays, so…” He cleared his throat, looking nervous, which was out of character for his brother.

  Ian and Rory had discovered each other decades ago and lived in a Hell realm for most of that time. There was no one he was closer to. His brother’s tension agitated Ian’s demon side. “Just say it.”

  Rory flipped open a thin manila file on the desk and revealed an 8x10 glossy of…

  Fiona.

  Ian blinked once. Twice.

  He stared at the picture, feeling his entire body heat up. It had been years since he’d seen her. He had a picture of Fiona, but it was from decades ago and it was in one of his safes—along with other treasures. That was not a myth about dragons—they loved treasure. Given her modern style of dress, this was taken fairly recently. “What is this?” His voice was always raspy, but even more so now.

  Rory flicked a glance at Liberty before looking back at Ian. “This is what I wanted to talk to you about. Finn wants to speak to this female. She lives on the outskirts of his territory. Not in it, but close enough. And we needed to know if she is a trustworthy female. I know you know who she is, but I don’t know the nature of your relationship.” He stared at Ian questioningly.

  Ian stood abruptly. He’d shared almost every part of his life and history with Rory. Fiona was the only thing he’d left out of that narrative. He simply couldn’t talk about her. It hurt too bad. Made his dragon want to take over, to burn everything and everyone to ash. “She’s trustworthy.” Without saying anything further he strode from the room. He heard his brother curse softly behind him, but ignored him.

  Rory was lucky he hadn’t burned a hole in the ceiling and just flown out of there. Which yes, was insane, but Ian wasn’t in control now. He needed to get to the Stavros estate as soon as possible. The Alpha wolf who ran this territory wouldn’t be happy to see him since he didn’t plan to call first, but the male could just deal with it. Seeing Fiona’s picture again had his most primal nature clawing to the surface.

  He couldn’t even convince himself that he’d buried memories of h
er because it was a lie. He thought of her every damn day. The woman lived inside him, was his mate. It didn’t matter that they’d never crossed that final line and mated. That he’d never marked her—that she was mated to another. Another female would never do for him. Now to know that she was somehow nearby, close to Finn’s territory… He was going to find out everything from the Alpha.

  Then he was going to see her. He knew he shouldn’t. She was mated, taken. She’d broken his heart into a thousand shards and gone off with another male. Another male her family deemed worthy. Too late he realized she’d done it to protect him, that she’d sacrificed her own happiness to keep him alive. Or it had been an attempt to—but he didn’t need anyone’s protection. He would have kept them safe, alive. He just wished she’d known that, trusted him enough.

  Now there was no logical reason to go to her. Still, he would see her. He had to.

  * * *

  “Did that go as well as you thought it would?” Liberty frowned at the open doorway, her dark eyes filled with worry.

  Rory stood, debating if he should go after his brother. “Yeah, just about.” He scrubbed a hand over his face.

  Liberty was in front of him in seconds, wrapping her arms around his waist.

  He loved how affectionate she was. Ever since they’d mated, there were no walls between them. She still struggled at night sometimes, but at least she didn’t try to hide the fact that she had nightmares, and he did everything he could to comfort her, to assure her that she was safe. “I feel almost guilty that I withheld the information about that female from him.”

  Liberty squeezed him tight. “You didn’t withhold anything. You just waited a couple days because your Alpha asked you to.”

  And that was the crux of the problem. Since he’d joined with a new pack, his wolf had divided loyalties.

  As if she’d read his mind, Liberty tilted her head back to look at him but still kept her arms around him. “You feel torn between your new pack and Ian?”

  “Sort of.” He’d never been beholden to anyone before. For decades it had just been him and Ian. Them against the Hell realm that had been their world. They’d occasionally retreated into the human realm to check on their investments and ensure that they were still making money, but that had been about it. And for all Rory knew, Ian had never searched out female company when he’d come to the human realm. He wondered if it was because of the female from the picture. “I knew she meant something to him. I just hated sitting on the information the last few days.”

  “Do you regret joining Finn’s pack?” Liberty’s voice was carefully neutral.

  His brow drew together as he read between the lines. “No. I could never regret that.” When he’d made the decision to settle down in Finn’s territory it had made sense to join the Stavros pack. Because it protected the female he loved more than anything. No one would ever mess with her again. And if they were stupid enough to try, they would have the entire Stavros pack to deal with, not just him. That kind of backup… Yeah, he’d do anything for his mate.

  “Do you think we should go after him?”

  He shook his head even as he pulled his cell phone out. He needed to call Finn and let him know that Ian was on his way. Because knowing his brother, Ian wasn’t going to call and ask to enter the male’s estate. No, he would probably do something rash and demand entrance.

  Ian was half demon, half dragon. He didn’t like to ask for permission for anything. It simply wasn’t part of his nature. When you were at the top of the food chain, what else could you expect?

  Rory could relate, to an extent. But he was still a wolf and a basic part of him liked being a member of a pack. His demon side didn’t give much of a fuck, but his wolf liked having an Alpha, liked that chain of command.

  “I’m going to call Finn,” he murmured to Liberty, who simply nodded.

  Finn picked up on the second ring. “What’s up?”

  “Ian’s on his way to see you.” Rory just hoped that his brother kept his shit together.

  * * *

  Ian snapped his wings out, gliding in for the final descent even as he knew what he was doing was stupid and likely to get him attacked by wolf shifters. But he needed to talk to Finn Stavros, Alpha of one of the most powerful shifter packs in the South—and he wasn’t waiting one second longer than necessary.

  Not after seeing Fiona’s picture.

  Hell, getting clawed up by some wolves might distract him from the pain in his chest. Wind rushed over his scales and wings as he dove down toward the cluster of trees. The compound was in a historic part of Biloxi on acres of private land. Gated, expensive and very private, considering the pack owned most of the neighborhood, it was enclosed by a huge iron fence and thick trees. The Greek revival mansion was about two hundred yards from his landing point.

  As he landed, he let his camouflage fall, revealing his huge dragon form to anyone on patrol. Some members of the pack had seen him before when he’d helped them defeat a crazy shifter who’d thought he could take over Finn’s territory. His act of loyalty to them was the only thing that might stop the wolves from attacking him right now.

  A dragon’s coloring was always unique to their clan. Unfortunately for him, he had no idea who his clan was. Or if he even had one.

  He snapped his wings in. His dragon body was a waterfall of colors, starting with gold, violet, and shifting into a pale lavender. The colors were constantly moving as his beast moved, making him appear to be almost liquid. It was a handy part of his camouflage.

  The scent of wolves nearby filled his nostrils. Yeah, he was definitely going to be attacked. It would be worth it because he was about to find out where Fiona was.

  He’d tried to put her out of his mind for the last five decades. Even now, knowing she was mated to another didn’t matter. Neither his dragon nor demon side would be appeased until he saw her with his own eyes. And the truth was, he wouldn’t even be appeased then. But he had to see her. Right. Fucking. Now.

  Shifters were notoriously obsessive when it came to their mates. So were demons, for that matter. And he was a mix of the two. It was no wonder his control was on a razor’s edge right now.

  The size of a small house, his dragon couldn’t be hidden. So he wasn’t surprised when a dozen snarling wolves appeared out of the trees, seemingly out of thin air, moments after his feet touched the ground.

  Taking a deep breath, he let the shift overcome him, let his human side take over in a burst of light and magic. The pain of the shift quickly faded as he stood up.

  “The only reason you’re not dead is because your brother called ahead of time.” Finn’s voice carried through the trees a moment before the tall male with midnight black hair stepped out wearing jeans and a T-shirt. His ice blue eyes had a faint glow to them as he approached.

  Ian’s dragon side sneered at the words. A bunch of wolves couldn’t kill him. They could rip his flesh to shreds but he was a dragon and could incinerate them with a single stream of fire. The Alpha wolf, on the other hand, Ian wasn’t so sure about. The male had a lot of power rolling off him and Ian’s senses told him that Finn could withstand dragon fire. He wondered if the Alpha was even aware of it. Ian sure as hell wasn’t going to tell him. “I should have called first.”

  “Is that your idea of an apology?”

  Ian lifted a shoulder. “Yes.”

  Finn sighed, looking more annoyed than angry. From what Ian had come to know of the male, he was always fair. “You get a pass this once because you helped my pack.” He shoved a bundle of clothes at Ian. Which if Ian had been thinking clearly, he’d have remembered to bring his own. “Put this shit on. And come on. We’ll talk in my office.”

  Nodding, he fell in step with Finn, the other wolves watching him warily as they followed close behind. Inside he quickly dressed. They were both quiet as they ascended the winding staircase to the next floor. Everything was all dark, polished wood. And everything smelled like wolf. It wasn’t unpleasant and reminded him of his b
rother. Though Rory’s scent wasn’t just wolf.

  The second they were inside Finn’s office, Ian turned to the Alpha. “I will have her location now.”

  Finn blinked once then rubbed a hand over his face. “You’re just like Bo.”

  Ian frowned. That didn’t sound like a compliment. “You have a problem with my brother?” After recently discovering that he had another brother as well as a sister, he’d become very protective of them.

  Finn just snorted. “You know I don’t. Bo’s a good guy. But you both seem to have a problem with asking and not demanding.”

  Even though it went against his nature, Ian sat on one of the chairs across from Finn’s desk. He tried to appear civil and passive. If he had to pretend to be civilized, he would. Anything to find out more information on Fiona. Since moving back to the human realm semi-permanently, he hadn’t looked her up. He could have hired someone to do so or started searching himself, but he’d restrained himself.

  She was supposed to be mated now. With another male for the rest of her very long life. He hadn’t wanted to see who she’d ended up with, hadn’t wanted to learn that she had children—children that should have been his. But now that he knew she was on the border of Finn’s territory? He couldn’t show any restraint. Something dark had risen inside him and he couldn’t control it.

  He would see her.

  From his desk, Finn picked up a manila file similar to the one Rory had and handed it to Ian. This one had more than a simple picture inside it. He quickly scanned the two pages detailing information on Fiona O’Riley. They didn’t have much on her.

  But reading about her somehow made him feel closer to her. Which sounded stupid. He frowned. “There’s nothing mentioned about her clan or her mate.” He nearly choked on the last word.

  Finn leaned against the desk, arms crossed over his chest. “We’ve been watching her for a little while and so far, haven’t seen any dragon activity.”

  “You wouldn’t. They’re very private.” All dragons were, but her clan especially.