Protected By The Dragon (District Shifters Book 4) Read online

  “Stand there and don’t move. You don’t need to fight this. She’s not one of us. She’s just a human. She doesn’t matter.”

  The voice rang out loud and clear in Mitchell’s head. He recognized it as Joshua’s voice, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Joshua’s enlarged purple ones. His anger was blinding him, stopping him from acting. He stood rooted to the spot, trying to tell himself to look away from Joshua but unable to act on it. Joshua walked towards him with a wide grin.

  “Good boy,” he said in a mocking tone that made Mitchell angrier.

  Joshua reached him and punched him square in the jaw. Pain exploded through Mitchell’s head, but he still didn’t move or attempt to fight back. He swayed slightly on the spot. Joshua circled him, and Mitchell found himself spinning, keeping his eyes locked on Joshua’s. Joshua darted in and punched him again. If Mitchell took much more of this, he would pass out, and then it would be over. He would fail, and Lexi would pay the price.

  “Lexi isn’t important anymore,” the voice in his head said. That didn’t sound right to Mitchell, but if the voice of reason was saying it, then it must be right. It had to be. “My buyer will be here soon, and you’re going to stand there and watch what happens like a good little boy. You might even learn something.”

  Mitchell felt himself nodding his head. Yes, that sounded like a good plan. It was always good to learn something new. Joshua laughed, and his fist swung out again. Mitchell staggered and felt himself falling. He landed hard on his knees, not quite unconscious yet.

  “That’s it. Just stay there,” the voice said.

  And it truly was the voice of reason, because Mitchell didn’t think he could get up now, even if he wanted to, and he didn’t want to. Did he? No, he definitely didn’t. He couldn’t even remember why he had come here. Oh, of course. He was going to learn something. He couldn’t remember what, though.

  12

  Lexi had felt such profound relief when she had seen Mitchell come running into the cave. He had come to save her, just like he had in her dream, just like he had said he would. He had promised nothing would hurt her, and he was there to keep his word. In that moment, there was no doubt in Lexi. She was completely and utterly in love with this man.

  Mitchell had been coming towards her cage, and then Joshua had appeared between them. He was in his demon form, his skin blue and those slash marks on his face that made her want to retch. She had backed away, not wanting to see what came next. Of course she couldn’t stop herself from looking, though, and her relief had begun to turn to fear. Joshua was smacking Mitchell about, and Mitchell wasn’t even attempting to fight back. Lexi didn’t know what was going on, and the more she tried to make sense of it all, the less sense it was making.

  Joshua landed another blow on Mitchell, and Lexi saw Mitchell fall to his knees. He wasn’t quite unconscious, but she could see his dazed look, and she knew he wasn’t far from it.

  Lexi gasped as she realized what was happening. Joshua had gotten into Mitchell’s head, just like he had gotten into hers. That was why he wasn’t fighting back. She knew only too well what it was like to be controlled that way. She hadn’t been strong enough to fight it, but she knew Mitchell was. She had seen how in her dream. He had to be in his dragon form. She had to reach him somehow, hope her voice carried more weight in his mind than Joshua’s did. It was a long shot, but it was all she had.

  “Mitchell! Mitchell, it’s me, Lexi!” she shouted. She thought she saw something flicker across Mitchell’s face. Something like recognition, but she couldn’t be sure. She could hear Joshua laughing. “Mitchell, you have to fight it!”

  “He can’t fight it!” Joshua laughed, taunting her. “Lover boy there is mine now, just like you are. Do you really think you’re stronger than me?”

  “No, I don’t,” Lexi said calmly. “But I do think our love is stronger than your hate could ever be.” She ignored Joshua now, focusing only on Mitchell, praying that he felt the same way about her as she did about him. If he did, they still had a chance, because she truly believed that true love would always be stronger than hate. “Mitchell, you have to fight the voice in your head. It’s not real. Our love is real. Fight for it. Fight for us.”

  Mitchell’s head jerked up. It had worked. She’d gotten through to him. He blinked a few times as though he was dazed.

  “Lexi?” he said, his voice uncertain. He started to push himself up from the ground, and when he said her name again, his voice was normal, full of fire. He had done it. He had fought Joshua’s mind control and won. Lexi had been right. Their love was stronger than anything Joshua could throw at them.

  Lexi risked a look at Joshua. He seemed torn, his face full of anger as his plan fell apart around him. He took a step towards Lexi, and then he changed his mind and took a step towards Mitchell. Where Mitchell had been stood a beautiful, jet black dragon with large red wings and red eyes. The dragon looked into Lexi’s eyes for a second. She felt no fear of him; he was beautiful, and she was awestruck by the creature before her. Was it possible she could be like him? She knew the answer to that now. She had the Sanmere protein in her blood. Joshua’s test had proved it. But now wasn’t the time to think about that. She couldn’t let herself get her hopes up.

  The dragon roared, and with the fearsome sound came a plume of brilliant orange and red flames. The flames rained down over Joshua, and Lexi winced slightly as he screamed in agony. She reminded herself of who he was, what he was, and she found she could feel no sympathy for him.

  The dragon turned away from Joshua’s burned form and moved to the front of her cage. With no fear, she reached through the bars and stroked the dragon’s face. He nuzzled his face against her hand for a moment, savoring her touch, but then he moved back out of her reach. He wanted something, needed something from her, but she didn’t know what. He was looking her straight in the eye, trying to give her a message.

  “I don’t know what you want,” Lexi said, her voice breaking slightly with frustration.

  Panic was starting to consume her. She was still locked in the cage, and she knew Joshua’s buyer would be here any minute now. She glanced at Joshua. Already, his burned flesh was beginning to regenerate. They were almost out of time, and she didn’t know what to do.

  The dragon held her gaze, his red eyes calm. He reached out with his front leg, touched the padlock on the cage door, and then pointed to his face, and Lexi understood. The dragon wanted to burn the padlock off the cage, and she was in the way. She nodded her understanding and moved to the back of the cage, pressing herself flat against the wall again, although this time, it wasn’t out of fear or revulsion, just necessity.

  The dragon breathed out a huge plume of flames, and Lexi watched, fascinated, as the padlock and some of the bars of the cage melted, molten metal puddling on the ground at the dragon’s feet. She stepped forward again when the flames stopped coming. Movement behind the dragon caught her eye, and she saw Joshua, now healed, advancing on the dragon from behind. She looked away quickly before she could meet his eyes and let him into her head again.

  “Mitchell, look out!” she shouted as Joshua raised his palms. She didn’t know what effect the blue sparks would have on the dragon, and she didn’t want to have to find out. The dragon spun away from her and blew another plume of fire over Joshua, who instantly fell back to the ground, writhing and screaming. She looked back then, knowing the danger had once more passed. The dragon was taking no chances this time, and it breathed out another plume of flames.

  Lexi’s stomach cramped painfully when she saw Joshua’s white bone beneath his charred flesh. The dragon beckoned her, and she walked towards him. He stood back from the door, giving her space to leave the cage, and then he spread his beautiful blood colored wings, which shone like rubies in the darkened cave. The dragon rose off the ground and reached down with one foot to gently scoop her up.

  He flew to the mouth of the cave and then soared high into the air. Lexi was afraid at first, but she rem
inded herself that the dragon and Mitchell were the same being, and if he wouldn’t hurt her, his dragon wouldn’t, either. There was no way he was going to drop her.

  The dragon circled in the sky, and Lexi realized he was checking to make sure the buyer hadn’t arrived yet. She gave up trying to see for herself, trusting the dragon to keep her safe. She peered past its claws, and for a moment, she felt total freedom. She was flying. Mitchell was letting her fly.

  The feeling didn’t last long before they were heading to the ground again. Lexi saw Mitchell’s car looming up towards her. The dragon slowed his descent at the last minute and hovered an inch or two above the ground. He slackened his grip on Lexi, but he didn’t drop her. She knew what he wanted this time, and she scooted forward and stepped onto the grass. The dragon landed beside her. His scales began to ripple before her eyes, and she put her hand on his side, afraid of what was happening to him. Within seconds, her hand was on Mitchell’s side. He had changed back.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  Instead of answering him with words, Lexi threw herself into his arms and kissed him hard on the lips. Even now, when she had been so close to being taken by someone, when she had come so close to losing Mitchell, she couldn’t help but notice that Mitchell was naked. Her hands roamed over his bare back, and she could feel her clit waking up, tingling with excitement and anticipation. Mitchell broke away from her and smiled.

  “I would like nothing more than to make love to you right now, Lexi,” he said, nodding down at his hard cock with a grin. “But we have to get out of here. The buyer could arrive at any moment, and Joshua will be almost regenerated by now.”

  Lexi nodded reluctantly. He was right. And they had all of the time in the world to make love now. Perhaps even eternity. Mitchell moved to the boot of his car. He pulled out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and quickly threw them on. Lexi pulled her cell phone out.

  “You’re seriously calling work right now?” Mitchell laughed.

  “No. They can wait a little longer. I’m texting Chessa, my sister, the details of Joshua and this place. She knows a Matchmaker hunter who will be only too happy to end this creep.”

  “Sounds good,” Mitchell said. “But you do know a demon can only be killed with a Ure sword, right?”

  “I have no idea what that even is, but I know this Matchmaker hunter is pretty badass. She killed the demon who took Chessa.”

  “Works for me.” Mitchell grinned.

  Lexi watched him for a moment, enjoying the last flash of his abs before his t-shirt came down and covered them. “I knew you would save me.”

  “I almost didn’t.” Mitchell gestured at her to get in the car, and he got into the driver’s side, started the engine, and pulled away. “I thought I’d come on too strong and scared you away when you didn’t take my calls yesterday. I called your office this morning, and Samira told me you had taken a couple of days’ vacation. I thought you were ghosting me.”

  “Never,” Lexi said, shaking her head. “Joshua was mind controlling me. He didn’t want anyone looking for me, so he made me call work and tell them that I needed a few days off. Jared wasn’t too impressed, but I convinced him I’d be working on the case from home. For once, I actually wished he trusted me less and might demand I come in and then raise the alarm when I didn’t show up.”

  “When Joshua sent me the video, I ran out to my car, and fucking Detective Burns showed up. He’s been watching us. He arrested me for your murder, because he was sure Joshua would have killed you by then,” Mitchell told Lexi.

  “What?” Lexi demanded. “You mean he knows about immortals?”

  “Yeah. He used to be a hunter. Now he’s kind of semi-retired, I guess. He sets up immortals for crimes and gets them that way. He admitted it all to me. He’s the one setting me up. Tyler Bowes killed Lisa, but obviously, he thought it was his lucky day when Burns showed up and started treating him like a witness. He clearly didn’t hear any screams from his place. He waited until she was dead, called the cops, and then pretended like he’d run in there a hero. That’s why his story didn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

  “I knew there was something off about him, but I never would have thought Detective Burns was involved. Sure, he’s smarmy and kind of arrogant, but this is next level shit. Anyway, enough about that. We can talk about the case at the office. How did you get away?”

  “Detective Burns is seriously fucked up in his thinking, there’s no getting around that. But he only wants to see supernatural creatures suffering, not humans. I showed him the video, and he let me go so I could rescue you before it was too late.”

  “I didn’t see that one coming, either. Even after so long as a lawyer, people never fail to surprise me.” She shook her head and looked out of the window for a moment. She turned back to Mitchell. “So, Joshua was going to kill me instantly. I blurted out that I had Sanmere in my blood to buy myself some time. He did a test, and I was right. Mitchell, I can turn into a dragon, and we can be together forever.”

  “Yeah, about that,” Mitchell said.

  Lexi’s heart pounded hard in her chest. His face was serious, his voice a little shaky. He was going to tell her he didn’t want her. After everything, he was going to break her heart. She gave a shaky laugh as Mitchell pulled the car over on the side of the road.

  “Unless you don’t want that, obviously,” she said.

  Mitchell turned to her and took her hands in his. She searched his face, trying to work out what was going on, but she couldn’t. His expression was unreadable, his eyes fixed on hers, full of turmoil.

  “I want that more than I have ever wanted anything, Lexi. From the moment I saw you, I knew you were my soul mate. My one true mate. But there’s something you should know.”

  Lexi felt slightly better. He still wanted her. And whatever bombshell he was going to drop on her now, it didn’t matter. They could get through anything together. Their love had beaten Joshua. They could beat some sort of normal relationship issue easily enough.

  “To get Detective Burns to agree to let me come and save you, I had to make a deal with him. I agreed that if he let me go long enough to save your life, I would plead guilty to Lisa’s murder.”

  It made sense now, why Detective Burns had told Mitchell so much, but Lexi wasn’t worried. Now she knew exactly where to look, and she knew she could break Tyler. She maybe wouldn’t be able to convince a jury that Detective Burns had set Mitchell up, but she could surely get him acquitted and make Burns look damned incompetent.

  Mitchell was still looking at her intensely, and she started a little as she realized where he was going with this. “Wait. You’re not seriously telling me you’re going to go through with this, are you?”

  Mitchell nodded. “Yes. I’m a man of my word, Lexi, and it was worth it to save you.”

  “But—” Lexi started.

  Mitchell put his finger to her lips and smiled sadly at her. “There are no buts, Lexi. The deal is done. I want you to move on from me and be happy.”

  “No,” Lexi said softly.

  “Yes,” Mitchell insisted. He leaned forward and kissed her. She responded to his kiss, but her mind wasn’t on it. It was on something else. Mitchell might be a man of his word, but she was a woman of hers, and she had told Mitchell he wouldn’t go to prison for something he hadn’t done. That hadn’t changed in her mind; it had just become a little harder.

  She knew she wouldn’t be able to talk him out of this. She could hear it in his voice, see it in the steely look in his eyes. And if she tried, if she begged him to reconsider like she wanted to, it was only going to make this moment harder for him, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.

  She wasn’t giving up, though. She would save Mitchell like he had saved her. A plan started to form in her mind. She let go of the thought for a moment and enjoyed the kiss, holding Mitchell to her, telling herself this wouldn’t be their last kiss, but not wanting to forget a second of it, just in case. Finally, they pul
led apart, and Lexi pulled her cell phone out. She smiled at Mitchell.

  “Can we take a picture?” she asked.

  “Of course.” Mitchell nodded.

  She opened her camera app and switched it to her front camera. Mitchell put his arm around her, they smiled, and she took the photo. She pressed a button on her cell phone and held it in her lap.

  “So, let me get this straight,” she said. “Detective Burns blackmailed you with my life. He knew I was in danger, and he used that situation to get you to confess to a murder you didn’t commit.”

  “Yeah. That’s pretty much the gist of it. I go down, the actual killer walks free, and Burns gets to sit up there on his pedestal, thinking he’s better than everyone else. Fun, huh?”

  “Yeah,” Lexi said. “That’s one word for it.” She touched her screen again, and then she closed her camera app and slipped her cell phone back into her pocket. “So, you’re going back there now?” she asked.

  “Right after I take you to get your car, yeah,” he said.

  “And there’s nothing I can say to change your mind?”

  “No,” Mitchell said. “Please don’t make this harder than it has to be, Lexi. Just know that I love you, and I always will.”

  Lexi felt tears filling her eyes, even though she knew this was only temporary. “I love you, too.”

  13

  “You know, part of me thought you wouldn’t be stupid enough to come back here,” Detective Burns said, leading Mitchell along a dreary grey corridor.

  “I told you. I’m a man of my word. Plus, I’m pretty confident you have some sort of tracking device on my car,” Mitchell said.