“Of course.” Alec shut the door and nodded to a waiting doorman. “Over here.” He escorted her to the roped-off cab line. Drunken tourists shuffled quickly into cars, and soon they were at the front.
Alec opened the door to a yellow cab. The sharp smell of bleach and hot plastic swamped out. He picked up Lucy’s hand and turned the palm up. He waited for her to meet his gaze, then kissed her hand, letting the tip of his tongue touch her life line. Heat uncoiled in the pit of her stomach, flooding her cold limbs with fire.
She snatched her hand back. “You’re crazy.”
“No, I’m perfectly sane.” Alec brushed her hair over her shoulder. “Remember what I said. I can help you.”
Perhaps it was the surety of the metal cab door in her fingers, escape literally at hand, but her eyes sheened with tears. He was just too much. It was all
“No thanks. I decided not to be a whore fifteen years ago.” She tried to pull free and slide into the cab, but Alec held her firmly in place.
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning at eight.” Alec released her, and she slid across the cracked vinyl seat to the far window. He shut the door and handed the driver a hundred dollar bill.
Lucy refused to look back. “Please just get away from here,” she told the cabbie. Her voice cracked with the emotion she had fought to contain. She deliberately didn’t look back at the Crown Jewel and its enigmatic owner, but kept her eyes on the dirty cab window. Someone had kissed the pane, leaving a puckered outline in candy- apple red.
Had she ever been so carefree, to put on too much lipstick and kiss a window?
No.
Fresh misery swamped her. She had to talk to Joey, find a way out of this mess. And book a flight. Beyond the window, the lights of the Strip bleared to a distorted neon rainbow, like someone’s pot turned to fool’s gold.
Chapter Five
The scent of the chase thrilled Alec’s dragon as he coasted above the Las Vegas strip following Lucy’s cab. He didn’t have to worry about the desensitized human eyes below him. They were too distracted by the strip’s bright bursts of neon and an overabundance of flash and awe to notice his shadow.
On the dark horizon, lightning fractured the night, sending a web of energy across the sky, stretching his scales and shaking him like a fist. He tucked his wings and dove fast, spinning, delighting in the descent, exhilaration in every wing stroke.
Dr. Lucy De Luca—Ph.D in sass and thievery—was his destined mate. The shock of their kiss still echoed through his bones like reverb from a bass-blasting speaker. Happiness swelled through his chest, and something even more elusive energized his worn body. It was hope.
In centuries past, a dragon might be mated with a magician, but never a human. It was assumed the fates avoided them because they were too frail, mentally and physically. Regardless, he had a mate, a feisty human mate. Now, he just had to extract her from whatever mess she was in.
Alec landed in the shadows, shifted into his human form, and approached Lucy’s tidy house in Henderson with furtive steps. The house was tan-bricked with decorative, but functional, bars at the windows. It was surrounded by brick walls with an all-business looking iron gate for access that reminded Alec of the woman. Lucy was a bit of a fortress herself.
He was curious about the inside of her home. Human’s domiciles revealed much about the person who occupied them, and he wanted to know more about Lucy. But she wouldn’t want to see him. She would be alarmed by his presence. The invitation inside would have to wait. There were other ways of gaining information.
Letting his heightened dragon senses sweep the suburban neighborhood, Alec could tell that most of the humans were settling in to sleep. Lucy was on the east side of her house, and her body gave off a scent he could find anywhere in the world now. He frowned at the presence of another heat signature, one that hustled around in front of her with the flightiness of a starved bird.
A friend? A foe? A lover?
Alec’s gut twisted at the possibilities, and his dragon nature beat against the wall of his chest, ready for action. He soothed himself with deep breaths of the crisp night air. He wasn’t a teenage fledgling anymore; he could, and would, control his reactions.
Bending his knees, he jumped over the ten-foot brick wall. His feet crunched softly over white gravel as he stepped around Lucy’s side yard. Pressing himself to the side of the house, he peered through an open window off the kitchen.
Lucy stood with her back to him. She had changed clothes, and his gaze moved appreciatively over her snug black yoga pants and white tank top. Her heavy red hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She shook her hands at a man with her same facial features and hair color.
“You promised me you would stop gambling,” Lucy said. “How could you do this again?” Her question sounded rhetorical, small and hopeless, not at all the she-cat who had called him fiery names at the casino.
“Sis, I don’t know what happened. I had a sure tip on this pony.” The man appeared genuinely perplexed, and a part of Alec settled down at the revelation that the man was only her brother.
“Joey… You put all your money on the race, didn’t you?” Lucy asked. “Again.”
Joey gave her an eyebrow raised, hell-to-the-yah look. “It was a sure bet, and it would have paid off at 50K—”
“There is no such thing as a
“I didn’t mean to get you involved. It’s just Gino is new in town and looking to make a score for his connections in Chicago.” Joey looked at his feet. “I’m sorry, Luce.”
“You’re always sorry…” Lucy’s voice broke, and she crossed her arms around her stomach protectively. “So, so sorry.”
Anger fired through Alec at the callous way Lucy’s brother treated her. This must be her problem, the reason she’d stolen his keycard.
“Lucy, this is the last time,” Joey said.
“You say that
Finally, he would corner Ambrogino. Alec focused on Lucy, torn between his need to keep her near him and the instinct to finally settle things with his enemy and former friend. He stared hard at her profile, willing her to feel his presence, willing her to know that she wasn’t alone anymore. She didn’t have to carry her burdens by herself. He could help her.
Lucy remained unaware of him, lost in her distraught tea-blowing. He would have to leave her for now. Ambrogino might prove dangerous to her, too, if he learned that she was his mate. Tomorrow, he would ask Lucy about her brother and try to fix whatever mess she was involved in.
Tonight, he had an enemy to quash.
…
“Did you make the drop?” Joey leaned his forearms on the bar counter and looked at her.
Lucy nodded and kept blowing on her tea.
