Page 57 of Claim the Dragon
Chapter Fourteen
Ravyn waited until the SUV stopped moving and she heard the engine click off.She’d buried her face in the backseat, inhaling the scent of leather as she made sobbing noises long after her tears had dried.She wasn’t one to detest crying, but instead believed that a good cry was cleansing and sometimes rejuvenating.But her tears never lasted long.They weren’t meant to, because progress couldn’t be dampened by them.Instead, she’d taken the time she knew Steele was using to try to figure out what to say to her, or what to do with her after all that had happened, to think about what her plan of attack was going to be—because she was definitely going to attack.
First, she’d deal with Steele and whatever he and his friends had done to her last night when she’d been at that mountain place and then, with that bitch that had taken Cree.A good deal of her rage was being saved for that too-cute heffa.
Lifting her head slightly, she tried to peek out the window but all she could see was black, so she figured it had gotten dark on the ride to wherever they were.Maybe he’d brought her back to that mountain place.Some of her thoughts were still hazy, but she remembered most of what she figured were the good parts—the parts Steele and his friends tried to make her forget.
I would never drug you.
Wasn’t that what he’d said last night when she’d asked how she got to the mountain?Rage simmered on a low boil as she balled her fingers into fists and prepared to lunge at him the minute he opened that door for her to get out.
He was saying something, probably talking into his watch again the way she’d seen him doing when they were back at the senator’s house.She remembered that now too, since the second she stared into that woman’s—Steele had called her Temptra—eyes, memories had been coming back in chunks and spots of what felt like an energy void.Like she knew what that was.She only knew what it felt like when she recalled those moments, it was as if nothing was there but energy.A feeling that circled and roamed like it was searching for somewhere to go and settle.Weird, yes, but then everything that had happened in the last two weeks was weird and she was ready to finally get to the bottom of it.
His door opened and Ravyn waited, her limbs ready to act according to the instructions from her brain.How this was going to end she wasn’t quite sure, but she refused to be on the receiving end of any more lies, duplicity or whatever the hell else was going on around her.Either he was going to be straight with her or...
The passenger door on the driver’s side opened and Ravyn leapt out, wrapping her arms and legs around Steele’s big frame.The force and unexpectedness of her action sent him back until he fell onto the ground with her on top of him.She laced her fingers around his throat while she straddled him, wishing like hell she had one of her knives, or even that dagger.Her palms tingled at that thought as if they, too, recalled how it’d felt to hold that ancient piece.
“Who the hell are you?Why’d you pick me to pull into your sordid little supernatural games?Why did you lie to me last night?And where’s Cree?”Her chest heaved for air, pain sifting through every breath like shards of glass.“Where’s Cree?”
She repeated that question because it was the most important.If she didn’t learn anything else from this, their second Q&A session, Ravyn desperately needed to know where Cree was so she could go and get him.Whatever she had to do or say she would to spare his life.
Would his answers also affect how she’d thought she was beginning to feel about him?She didn’t know, but as of now she was hating herself for letting her guard down when she’d known how men could be.If he’d drugged her, he’d taken control from her and she’d never forgive him for that.
His body was solid and he barely blinked before reaching to wrap his fingers around her wrists.He looked so calm and so unbothered by what she was saying or doing, or both, and it sent more rage flying through her body so that her fingers tightened around his neck.He didn’t try to remove her hands, not right away.No, for endless seconds he simply stared up at her with those soulful brown eyes.
Eyes that she knew were fake!
She squeezed tighter.
“You’re a lying deceitful bastard and I want you to answer my questions before I kill you!Do you hear me?Answer my questions!”
Her hair fell down the side of her face and her arms burned from the exertion, but she wouldn’t release him.She wouldn’t stop until he answered her.But he still hadn’t opened his mouth.His silence only frustrated and angered her more, if that was even possible.
With the slowest movement Steele eased her hands away from his throat as if they were nothing but pieces of lint on his skin.However, he had a solid grip on them, switching from a two-hand hold to one without any effort at all.He brought that other hand up to cup her face, his thumb wiping away a tear that had somehow snuck past her finished-with-crying stance.
“I’m sorry,” he said finally, his voice gruff, eyes searching her face for something in return.
“You’re sorry?”she asked with a huff.“Sorry?That’s all you have to say?”The one word shouldn’t have pierced through all that pain stuffed into her chest at the moment, but somehow it did.
“Yeah,” he said with a slight nod.“I’m sorry.”
“For what exactly?Lying to me, drugging me or both?”
“I never lied,” he said and then clapped his lips shut as if he were rethinking that statement.“And I didn’t drug you.It’s called mind cleaning and it was only supposed to erase your memories from the last two weeks.Magnum knew not to make it too potent.”
“What?Like a cocktail?What kind of insanity is that?”
“It’s not a drink or a drug,” he said and then sighed.“I know it was invasive and wrong, but I wanted to protect you and if I’d had any other choice...”
She shook her head, feeling the sting of more tears, but dared them to fall.“It’s not enough,” she said, but the words held no bite, dammit.“It’s not enough.”This time was to convince herself she meant it, because she wanted to mean it.He couldn’t change her mind about feeling betrayed by him with a few silly words.
“I know.”He kept moving his thumb over her cheek and the hand holding hers eased.“I messed up.Again.”
“What do you mean again?”There was a vulnerability in his voice she’d never heard before.Upon first glance there was nothing vulnerable or weak about Steele Eze.Even lying here in where the hell were they?She looked around and saw that they were in the middle of a forest, at night.How apropos after what had just happened back in town.Lying beneath her right now, he still appeared imposing as his massive chest heaved up and down with each breath, his strong arms extended upward while his hands touched her with more gentleness than she’d ever experienced in her life.
She moved next, easing back away from him so that his hand slipped from her face and the one that had been holding hers dropped to rest on his chest.Their gazes held for a few seconds in what she recognized as a quiet truce and she eased off him, rolling to the side to sit with her legs crossed.He sat up and then they were both sitting on the ground in the middle of the forest like they were on a school camping trip.
“I didn’t save my sister,” he said quietly.“I wanted to, but I didn’t.And then you were there and I wanted to save you too.”
