Most of Lana’s new clothes, as well as the comforter and sheets from the bed, lay in a pile on the floor. Smoke still rose from the clump of fabric. The smell of sulphur permeated the air. Nick looked up to see that the smoke detectors had been covered with plastic, so they didn’t go off and alert the hotel staff that there was a problem.
Nick quickly pushed Lana into the hallway and told her to wait there while he checked out the room. It was a basic hotel room, but there were still a couple of closets and a bathroom to check out. There wasn’t a lot of room for a dragon to hide, but plenty of room for someone if Dizag had another, smaller shifter, or even had paid a human to destroy the room, and perhaps wait for Lana to return.
There was no one waiting, so Lana walked in to inspect the rest of the damage. All of the color drained from her face when she was able to take in the mess. She swayed as though she were going to faint. Nick moved quickly to steady her, but she steadied herself.
The bathroom was a mess. Soap, toothpaste, and other items were sprayed everywhere. A message, scratched into the wall, read “Come get me if you can, Your Highness.”
The monster even had the audacity to sign his name to the message: “Dizag.”
Worried, Nick turned to Lana and put his hands on her shoulders. He started to say something comforting about protecting her, but stopped before he even drew in a breath. Her eyes were hard, like pure steel. This attack hadn’t made her afraid. She was angry.
5
Lana
Lana was in complete shock. She had rationalized earlier, when she decided to leave the hotel, that being locked in her room would not protect her. However, seeing the evidence with her own eyes was a jolt to her very core.
This was the monster her sister had fallen in love with and married. Lana had always thought that Lucy had a good judge of character and made smart choices. How could she have been so fooled by this hideous shifter? Fear gripped her heart as she thought of the fact that Lucy was now missing and that she was in the clutches of such a beast.
Then, Lana realized that she wasn’t going to help anyone dwelling on her worris, least of all Lucy. She closed her mind for a few seconds. She breathed in positive energy and breathed out the negative energy. She would not let fear conquer her.
Nick had made sure that there was no one lingering about in the room, but Lana could not stop the shudder of unease. She still felt as though she were being watched.
The message on the wall was clearly intended as a taunt to upset her. She stared at it, almost able to feel Dizag’s glee as he was carving the wall. He thought he had the upper hand. He thought he would get to her. Lana decided that she wasn’t about to let that happen.
Lana jumped when Nick grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. He wanted to make sure that she was okay. She was fine. She was just angry. She thought that she could literally feel her blood become hotter and hotter as she considered the situation.
She was angry at Dizag for taking his revenge out on people who had nothing to do with the situation. She was angry at Dizag that he had so low confidence in his own manhood that he had atack more vulnerable female shifters. If he was such a strong alpha, he should attack other dragon shifters. Even female dragon shifters were extremely powerful. Other shifters were at a disadvantage when it came to fighting dragons. They could fly, and they had nasty, sometimes poisonous, talons, fire, and powerful wings. They could plummet silently out of the sky. They were at the top of the food chain, so to speak. A deer shifter didn’t stand a chance against someone like Dizag.
“What a damn coward,” Lana said under her breath.
“What?” Nick asked.
“Nothing. Just talking to myself,” Lana answered.
Lana’s words had startled herself out of her thoughts. She never used language like that. Her mother had drilled it into her that she always had to be proper, no matter what the situation. However, Lana could think of some other words she would like to spit at when thinking about Dizag.
Then, Lana’s thoughts shifted completely. She suddenly became acutely aware of Nick’s hands on her shoulders, still gripping her tightly. His chocolate eyes peered deep inside of hers, as though they were trying to see into her soul.
His chiseled face was so close to hers that she could feel his warm breath on her face.
While he stared into her eyes, she wanted so much to lean into him and feel his arms wrap tightly around her. Not because she was scared of Dizag, but because she was afraid of what he would do to Lucy. She wanted to feel Nick’s warmth and comfort envelop her and block out the nastiness that lay around her in the room.
She shook herself out of it and purposely stepped away from him. Lana wrinkled her nose at the hideous odor that filled the air.
Surveying the damage, she asked, “How am I going to pay for this?”
Nick said, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll make it right with the owner. I’m more worried about the fact that no one saw or heard anything while all of this was going on. I know that dragons can be extremely stealthy, but there should have been some noise as he ripped the door apart.
Lana had to agree. Dizag had spent some time in the room. Ripping apart the furniture, disabling the fire alarm, burning the clothes, and scratching his message on the wall would have taken him a while to accomplish. Even though her room was at the end of the hallway, someone should
