Hunted by the Dragon (Captured by a Dragon-Shifter Book 4) Read online

  “Wait until I tell Dad about this tomorrow,” Brian continued.

  “I can imagine what your account of the story will be,” Sean grumbled. By the time it made the rounds through the close-knit family, the version will have gone from Jules stealing his car to Jules left him hogtied naked in front of Faneuil Hall with spanking marks across his ass before taking off in his car. “Just call me when you find her. I’ll deal with Jules.”

  “Jules a car thief. I still can’t believe it. Want me to run her name to check if I can find out more about what’s going on with her?”

  Sean considered saying no, but instead found himself answering, “Yes, but only because I wish to make sure she is safe. Not because I wish to disrespect her privacy.” He took a deep breath. “I want to end this call now.”

  “Be safe, Sean. I’ll call back soon.” Brian said before hanging up the phone.

  Even in his irritation, worry filled him. There were so many unanswered questions, but even more answers he wished didn’t exist. His understanding of women in general was limited, not to mention that of Earth women. It’s not like he’d had females in abundance on his home world to practice interacting with. When she’d visited him after her attack, Duncan had said Sean confused her gratitude for something more and that he should leave her be. Saving a woman did not give him the right to her.

  With two gunshot wounds, he’d been in no condition to chase after Jules. When finally he could make his way around Boston alone, he’d looked for her. All he found was an empty apartment.

  Time had helped him to understand human ways, but he still couldn’t figure out what he’d done or said to make Jules disappear without coming back to see him. Despite Duncan’s advice on women, Sean was sure he had a connection with Jules. He felt it again tonight. The invisible thread pulled from inside her body to lasso him in. Had she asked, he would have made her his mate without thought—even though she didn’t know he was a dragon-shifter, and she was a car thief. None of that mattered to his heart.

  Sean closed his eyes.

  “Perdón, did that chick say where she was going with your car?” The light Spanish accent rolled effortlessly from beside him.

  “I didn’t ask.” Sean frowned, turning to look at the sedan progressing slowly beside him on the street. It had been trailing him for a couple of blocks, but he wasn’t in the mood for conversation.

  A man smiled and opened the car door. The vehicle stopped to allow him to step out. His face was somewhat familiar though Sean was sure he’d never met him before. He wore a casual white linen shirt with embroidery up one side, open over a white t-shirt and a dark pair of denim jeans. Thick dark brown hair was slicked back, cropped short around the nape and kept longer on top. The car pulled next to the curb, and two men joined them, holding back like bodyguards. Their thick arms crossed over their chests, and they had apparently mastered the art of the dead stare.

  “Why? You know her?” Sean asked.

  “You could say that.”

  “Who are you?” Sean crossed his arms, mimicking the aggressive posture. A few humans didn’t frighten him. One shift and he’d tear them apart.

  “I am Hector. Don’t worry, hombre, we’ll find your car.” Hector motioned to his thugs. One reached into his jacket and pulled out a business card. He handed the card forward to Hector, who took it between two fingers and then offered it to Sean with a sweeping flick of his wrist. “Here is my number. You call me if you see her again or if that friend of yours on the phone tracks her down. She is very dangerous. Don’t underestimate her.” Hector glanced over Sean. “But you look like you can handle yourself. There’s a reward if you detain her for me.”

  Sean pocketed the card without reading it. He didn’t like knowing this Hector had been eavesdropping on his conversation. “Are you a bounty hunter?”

  Hector gave a small laugh. “Something like that. Do what’s right. If you see her again, call me. A dangerous woman like that shouldn’t be out roaming the streets.” The man straightened his shoulders, adjusting his shirt with a long-armed gesture before turning in a dramatic display clearly intended to make his presence known to the world. To his men, he said, “Vienen en. Come on.” The goons trailed behind him like obedient dogs as they all got back in the car.

  Sean frowned, keeping an eye on them as they drove away. Maybe he didn’t understand Jules as well as he thought.

  Chapter 5

  “Fucking shit!” Jules paced the small motel room off the highway, staring at the open leather messenger bag on the bed. It would seem Sean had switched professions from superhero to bounty hunter as signified by the giant stack of bail bond files in his trunk. It seemed an odd to be a bounty hunter in the Flaherty family of police. Though, Sean had never said he was a cop. She’d just assumed.

  She’d flipped through his files and saw the type of bonds his employers wrote—drug dealers, gang bangers, and general lowlifes. Many of them had overdue court dates and were out running free. She couldn’t believe it. Not only had he quit being a superhero, but it also seemed he now helped the bastards back out onto the streets. How could he be part of the system that freed criminals after one had shot him?

  “Maybe I was wrong about him,” she mused, a sense of disappointment and remorse washing over her. Though, she shouldn’t be too surprised. She’d often wondered how Brian, Rory, and Duncan had happened to be by the exact alleyway where she was attacked on their day off. Of course, she had no proof of corruption and wrongdoing, but sometimes it felt as if there were a thin line between cops and criminals.

  It hurt to think of the past. Where once her heart held so much promise and hope, there was now only a coldness she couldn’t shake. A part of her had died—a vital, loving, optimistic part. One night changed it all. She used to wish she could take her thumb and blot out that whole day from her personal timeline.

  “Quit dwelling,” she ordered herself, squashing her emotions until only the calmness remained. “It is better this way. I’m in control. I will not be a victim. I will not sleepwalk through life. I depend only on myself.”

  Jules put everything back into the leather bag except the roll of money she’d found. The cash, she stuffed into her hooded sweatshirt’s pocket. It was enough to keep her going for weeks, so long as she kept a low profile. She promised herself she’d pay Sean back if she lived.

  Slipping the sweatshirt off her head, she was careful to keep the cash safely inside the pocket as she laid it on the table next to the new phone and the bag of groceries she’d purchased from a convenience store. Since she’d been leaving the gym when Juanita’s thugs had tried to invite her into their car, she hadn’t had time to change out of her sweaty workout gear. Paranoid, Jules was convinced they had been trailing her through Boston for the past three days, until she managed to hitch a ride to Gilroy. Juanita’s call confirmed they were after her.

  The tight black tank top with built-in bra reeked of stale sweat. Jules pulled the tank over her head, glad to be rid of it. She stretched her arms and crossed the room half-naked. The exercise pants were little better, and she slid them off her hips, taking the cotton panties and socks with them.

  Jules ignored her reflection in the mirror, no longer one of those women who spent hours dwelling over her appearance. Keeping her body toned wasn’t out of vanity, but necessity. With nothing else to put on, she took dish soap out of the grocery bag and headed toward the shower to do her laundry while she bathed. The soap was the closest thing she could find to detergent, and the smell of lemon-lime was definitely better than body odor.

  Hot water felt great, even if the only soap available was the cheaply scented motel brand that claimed to be lavender infused. The combination shampoo/conditioner was harsh, and she’d be fighting to brush her hair of the tangles it made. Still, beggars couldn’t be choosers.

  Jules ran her hands down her stomach, only to stiffen as Sean came to mind. He was broader than she remembered, forged with muscles, or had she erased that detail of him over t
he years? A maturity radiated from his face, both formidable and confident. When she’d met him at the Flaherty house, she remembered thinking he stared at everything in wonder, as if seeing it for the first time, almost like a child stepping out into the world. Or maybe that was the painkillers he’d undoubtedly been on.

  Her sex tingled, despite the fatigue in her limbs. Already she knew his body would feel perfect against hers. The sensation curled its way up to her breasts, branching toward her erect nipples. Did she indulge the fantasy by allowing herself to think about him? Was it a mistake to feel this much? Even as she made the decision to stop, her hand brushed lower between her thighs.

  Just a couple strokes, she told herself.

  Her finger slid along her folds, rubbing the tender bud. She gasped lightly, pinching a nipple as the hot water hit her chest. Her fingers were a sorry replacement for a man and the harder she tried to find release, the more her sex ached to be filled with thick, hard flesh. She jerked, the movements between her hips and hand becoming like a battle neither could win.

  “Damn, I need to be held,” she whispered as if the soft admission would somehow make the desire a fact. Jules tried to imagine a faceless stranger next to her body, but Sean’s face came to mind. Still, the idea of him wasn’t enough. She tried to climax, fought for it, but in the end, the tiny, unsatisfactory tremors caused more disappointment than release.

  After washing her clothes and hanging them over the shower rod to air dry, she toweled off, jerked the tangles from her hair with violent strokes and went to bed naked. She’d give herself one night of rest before getting back on the road.

  Chapter 6

  Sean tipped the motel desk clerk before taking the room key from him. Brian had tracked the car, and it hadn’t taken Sean long to discover it hidden behind the motel under the limb-cast shadows of the parking lot. Once he found the car, he’d dismissed the taxi that had been driving him around for the last several hours. The clerk claimed he hadn’t seen Jules at the hotel before she checked in that night. That was something. At least she wasn’t living in the rundown facility.

  Sean’s initial surprise had turned to irritation, then anger, until finally settling into an exhausted frustration.

  Streaks of dawn filtered over the sky in brilliant magenta and orange, as he gripped the metal key. Lifting his hand to knock on the door, he paused. What if she wasn’t alone in the room? Leaning his ear to the cold, hard surface, he listened. The soft sound of voices spoke over a musical background signifying the television was on. He took a deep breath, trying to detect her scent. The dumpster down the block was too overpowering.

  “She stole my car, after all,” he justified to himself, slipping the key quietly into the lock. Sean glanced up and down the empty walkway in front of the rooms. He turned the knob, pushing in.

  Blue light from the television illuminated the gloomy motel room. With a worn dresser, bed, and nightstand, it seemed a bleak place. Dwellings like this made him miss the fresh air and open fields of home. Sure, Earth had areas of open nature, but it was a different environment. He found it difficult to become accustomed to the small things. Tree bark had a less bubbled, jagged texture. Darkness fell every night, not just once a year, and the planet only had one yellow sun, not two yellows and a blue. It meant daylight was no longer tinted with green, but a brighter white. And a night of darkness was no longer a special occasion to go camping with his brother for it happened every sunset.

  His breath caught as his gaze stopped on the bed. Suddenly, the location didn’t appear to be so depressing.

  The television light flashed, changing colors as it caressed Jules’s naked flesh. The long, sleek lines of her muscles caused his fingers to flex and his desire for her to stir. Red danced along the smooth slope of her tanned, firm ass. It faded to green as his eyes slid up her back over the crevice of her spine and the roundness of her shoulder. Blue flashed again, drawing Sean from his stupor. He quickly shut the door behind him. Here, like this, she looked so fragile.

  In some ways, as he walked toward the bed, it was as if no time had passed. He felt like he had the first evening of his arrival when he heard her voice calling out. One sound and he became connected. She was his siren, his enchantress. He could take on any Earthling in a fight and win, but Jules would defeat him every time with a single glance.

  His dragon senses had detected her desire for him in the past, even if she never acted on it. What would it be like between them? Every instinct tingled as if to say he had a right to look at her, to touch her, to claim her.

  But this was not his home world. Humans did not abide by dragon-shifter rules. He should turn away and bury the instincts screaming inside his body.

  Sean forgot about his car. He pressed his knee into the bed, hovering his hand over her damp hair. She gave a soft moan, adjusting her hips without waking to look at him.

  No part of touching her felt wrong. A trance came over him. The primal part of his dragon whispered in his ear. Where he’d experienced loneliness and homesickness moments before, he now felt hope. She was fire in the darkness, drawing him toward her light.

  His hand hovered along her back before making contact with her side. The smooth curve of her ass and hip drew his caress before he skimmed over the back of her thigh. She moaned, a welcoming sound. He should have acted on instinct years before when she came to thank him. He dipped his fingers between her legs, traveling upward toward her cleft. A light tremor worked along her body, but she didn’t pull away.

  Her silky flesh glided beneath the pads of his fingertips. When he pushed between her thighs, the heat of her sex warmed the side of his hand even as the soft curls tickled his skin. Jules squirmed, wiggling ever so slightly on the bed. He detected the faintest traces of lavender and lemon but beyond that the smell of woman. Leaning his face next to her back, he took in her scent. This was the reaction he longed for.

  Sean released a slow breath against her, blowing warmth and watching as goose bumps formed. This time, when Jules moved, it was to turn over with a jerk. Her hand struck out, aimed for his throat. She clutched a sharp steak knife. Sean grabbed her wrist, tugging it to the side and shaking it once, so the blade fell from her fingers. Jules’s chest thrust into his. Sean nudged the knife, sending it over the side of the bed with a light clank.

  “That’s twice you’ve threatened my life,” he said. “At least you used a real weapon and not face paint.”

  Her aggressiveness teased the hunter in him. Blue eyes narrowed, and if he wasn’t mistaken, she growled in the back of her throat in anger. “What are you doing here, superhero?”

  “Taking what’s mine.” Sean had meant his car, but as he said the words he couldn’t help glancing to her mouth. He wanted to kiss her, to feel her. Grabbing her by the side of her face, he held her by her hair. Until that moment, he didn’t realize how much he’d yearned for her.

  She tried to pull her hand away to fight. “You can’t just break into my room.”

  “Just like you can’t steal my car?” He lowered his tone. “Should we call the police, Jules? Let them figure it out?”

  “Go ahead. I’ll deny taking your car. This is my room. You’re the one breaking and entering.” She seemed unaware that she was vulnerable and naked. He was barely aware of anything else.

  “I’ll just say you were harboring a fugitive,” he countered. His mouth opened wide, and he angled his head as if to consume her. Instead, he denied himself the kiss. “I see you went through my bag.”

  Jules gave a weak laugh, her body relaxing some. “The superhero I remembered wouldn’t be helping bad guys out of jail.”

  “The Jules I know wouldn’t have stolen my car.” He didn’t intend for his words to sound mean, but her expression hardened. Her icy stare had started to thaw, but now all signs of softness disappeared.

  “I guess that just means we don’t know each other at all. It doesn’t matter. This isn’t a reunion. I don’t want to talk about the past. The Jules you met was messed
up in the head. You don’t know me, and I don’t know you.” She pushed hard, freeing her wrist.

  Sean refrained from pointing out that she’d started the conversation about the past. Besides, how could they not talk about it? It was how they had met.

  Jules tried to stand, but Sean stopped her. “Then tell me about the new Jules. What’s going on? Why did you steal my car?”

  “I,” she leaned her face into his, her tone sultry, “needed…”

  Sean’s breath caught and his lids fell heavy over his eyes. By all the universes, this woman had a hold on him since the very first second he’d heard her scared voice echoing in the night. Did she know the power she held?

  “A car,” she finished in a whisper. Television light moved over her naked body like see-through silk, swimming over her flesh, urging his hands to do the same.

  Sean closed the distance, unable to resist any longer. His lips met hers, instantly parting. Hunger and need raged through him, causing his ordinarily graceful movements to be jerking and desperate. Her lips tasted like mint and promise—the kind of promise he hadn’t felt since stepping through the portal. The warm glide of her tongue danced along his, twirling and thrusting.

  He cupped her breast, running his palm over the soft mound. Her nipple hardened. A soft groan sounded, but he wasn’t sure if it came from his throat or hers.

  Jules tugged at his waist, thankfully as eager as he. Sean lifted from the bed, standing on his knees. She tugged his pants down, freeing his arousal. Warm fingers glided up the top curve of his ass as she too stood on her knees, facing him. She shoved her hands down, squeezing his cheeks and forcing his hips forward. The softness of her stomach rubbed along his length, and he almost came from that first contact.

  “Ah!” His head tilted back on his shoulders as he gasped. He rocked his hips against her at a feverish pace. A ripple worked over his body, causing his fingertips to begin to shift. He forced the dragon back inside, hiding it.