Page 1 of Edge of Darkness

PROLOGUE-HUDSON

AS USUAL, the San DeLain International Airport was controlled chaos. Hudson slid into his Mercedes and shut the door, closing out the noise.

“Welcome back, my king,” Wilson, Hudson’s driver, said as he pulled away from the corner.

Hudson settled into the comfortable leather seat. “Glad to be back, let me tell you.”

“Welcome home, my king,” Conrad said, resting his hand on Hudson’s knee.

Funny how when Conrad, his assistant and right-hand man, used his title, Hudson’s body reacted differently. Every. Damn. Time. He swore he could feel the heat of Connie’s hand on his skin through the pants he wore.

Why hadn’t he told Wilson to bring the limo? That way, he could’ve raised the privacy screen and debauched Connie on the way home.

No, no, no. They weren’t doing that anymore. Right? Right.

But then, why was it so hard to not touch the male next to him? His body thrummed with the need to, especially since he’d been gone. Connie must have felt the same because he was slowly walking his fingers up Hudson’s thigh.

He quickly clasped that questing hand before it could reach its destination. “Behave,” Hudson said quietly.

Connie’s grin flashed in the darkened interior. “Never.”

One simple touch, and Hudson was half hard. It boggled the mind that they were not Fated mates. In fact, it concerned Hudson so much he’d backed off from Connie, although Connie was still fighting it.

He’d never run from anything in his life, yet here he was, running from a relationship with Connie. Why? Because he was afraid—afraid one of them might actually find their true mate. If that happened, any relationship between them would end.

Then where would Hudson be? Brokenhearted. That’s where he’d be… because he could so easily fall in love with Connie. Hell, he was halfway there already.

He was a thousand years old, and never, not once, had Hudson felt the call of his true mate. He no longer looked, in fact. Just because Fate decided dragons had true mates didn’t mean they necessarilyfoundthat one particular person. Apparently, Hudson had missed his during his long life.

Hudson released Connie’s hand. It hurt to do so, but this was for the best.

Connie huffed in annoyance but didn’t call Hudson on it. “Any more sightings of hunters outside of the attack at the hotel?”

“None.”

Hudson and Kage had had business in New York. They’d been looking to buy real estate in the city. While there, hunters had found them and set off the fire alarms in the hotel he and Kage were staying at. They’d ambushed Kage in a stairwell.

Kage had handled it, of course. Hudson’s best friend had a tendency to drop people who annoyed him off high-rise buildings.

“Good. Any other problems I should know about?” Connie asked.

“No. We signed off on the property Friday before we left New York.”

“Excellent news.”

“The endless paperwork on the purchase should be here tomorrow,” Hudson said. “We’ll look over it then.”

“I look forward to it,” Connie said.

Wilson merged into traffic as they left the airport, then took the exit ramp to the interstate.

Hudson’s compound was on the northwestern side of San DeLain and was a gated territory consisting of nearly three hundred forested acres with resort-type living.

There were two lakes, and one was near the main house where Hudson lived. His court was surrounded by natural wildlife and wooded acreage. Hudson was the king of the San DeLain Fire Court, a dragon, and one of the leaders of the paranormal community of this city.

“I take it Kage is okay too?”

“Yes. I imagine he’s with Austin by now.”

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