Defy Me Read online

  He relished a good distraction. She was it, his new goal.

  Hours passed with no progress and soon the sun would lighten the sky. He wouldn't be able to hide in the shadows much longer. Being seen in dragon form would only stir up trouble. Fine. He would shift back to his human form. Eventually she'd have to come out of her hiding place and he would be ready to pounce on her.

  Jett slid down the side of the building he stood on, sneaking into the last shadows of the night. A swirl of black wafted around his feet. He wasn't the only creature of the dark. Against the wall, a demon dragon, his brethren formed out of the inky blackness.

  One of the demon dragon's wings was torn nearly off and he had deep cuts criss-crossing his body. Jett recognized those wounds. They were from his father's fire whip. The King of Hell himself had beaten one of his brothers, nearly to death.

  "Jett." Its hissed voice was a mere rasp, telegraphing the pain. "AllFather comes. Jett dies. Go now."

  His brother collapsed and Jett caught him in his arms. The demon dragon's head lulled and there was no saving him. Damn it all to the fiery pits.

  "Rest now brother and know no more pain."

  Black eyes, matching Jett's own blinked up at him one more time. "Jett comes. AllFather dies."

  The cursed creature turned to coal black dust, staining the wall, the street, and Jett's skin.

  Jett could do nothing but growl low and re-avow the vengeance he would wreak for this death. More of his brothers died, mostly killed by the dragons he'd stuck a pseudo-alliance with or his own father's hand. He may have clawed his way out of hell, but it followed him each and every day. It would continue to until he could return and depose his father, end his reign.

  Only then would he and his brothers be free. To do that he needed an army of his own. He'd tried already to battle the Black Dragon on his own. He would have died trying if the dragons would have let him. But, no. They had to rescue someone else's fated mates.

  Fuck fate.

  At least he'd extracted a future favor from the Gold Dragon Wyvern in the process. Once he had the key to ending the curse, he'd call in the favor. Big time.

  Until then, he needed to keep a low profile. If his father had found him in this seaside German village, it was time to find a new village. Maybe in the south of France. He'd had a shameful lack of sunshine in his life.

  Jett wiped his hands clean and glanced around to make sure no other demon dragons were about. Only the cursed could be trusted. The others were dumb as fucking boxes of rocks and would report his position back to his father hoping for a boon.

  He neither saw or sensed any darkness rising. What he did get was a slap in the face of her. That unique energy that was entirely the little thief was amped up and calling to him like a giant flashing sign that said "Come and get me."

  Well, fuck. No woman, lickable or not, was worth risking his life or the lives he was responsible for. So why wasn't he walking away? What was it that had him chasing her all night long and rooted now to this spot watching her like a creepy stalker?

  She walked out of the front of a building he'd searched a half-dozen times last night. An electrified magical charm winked at him from her chest, dangling on a delicate chain around her throat. She had not been wearing that last night.

  Zings of energy, lust, and the need to claim her as his own burst every damn cell in his body, filling him with light and intense need. No way, no how could he leave her to the destruction the Black Dragon was about to wreak on this little town.

  Death if he stayed, death to her if he didn't. Caught between a rock and a hard on. He wasn't as dumb as he looked. Jett was going to have the best of both worlds if he acted fast. His enticing thief was standing at a food cart and he snuck up behind her. She was fumbling with some awkward German.

  "Ein cafe und diese...uh, pastries." She pointed to some chocolate croissants.

  Adorable.

  Blech. He'd never in his life thought anything was adorable.

  For some insane reason every time he looked at her his brain went all fluffy. His cock was anything but - no, it was rock fucking hard. Just from seeing her lick her lips in anticipation of a sweet treat for breakfast. He'd really like to lick that chocolate off her lips. "Make that two coffees and add in some of those sausage rolls. The lady is buying."

  She spun around and Jett thoroughly enjoyed seeing the shock on her face and her perusal of his chest. He even found himself puffing up for her. Which was ridiculous. The vendor handed over the rolls and Jett slapped a few bills on the table. It wasn't like he didn't have plenty. What she'd taken was a pittance.

  He grabbed the bag and cups, handing her one even while her mouth continued to open and close like a funny little fish. "How, what, I--"

  Jett slid his hand into the soft small of her back, just above her plump rear end and guided her away from the cart. Funny how they fit together perfectly like this. "I'm not going to hurt you, but there are those who will. You need to come with me before the real bad guys show up."

  "I don't need your help." She tried to jerk away, but stiffened and then stilled entirely. Her eyes went wide as pancakes and her jaw dropped.

  Jett looked up to where she was staring and swore. Right then, those bad guys he'd warned her about showed up.

  The sky darkened with unnatural storm clouds darkened the early morning sky. Demon dragons popped up in the new shadowed corners right there on the street. Damn, the Black Dragon was growing fucking bold to send his minions out among the humans in broad daylight. They couldn't do that on their own, which meant, the asshole himself really was on his way.

  "Ack. What are those?" His beauty came back to her senses and pointed at a growing puff of black not a foot away in the underbelly of the the food cart. That black smoke would soon become one of his brethren.

  They would have orders to recapture him and those on his side would not be able to disobey with the Black Dragon so close. He would have to fight them off. Shit. If he was lucky he could kill a few of the minions and chase the others away. Enough of his brothers had died in the battles with the dragon warriors. Even more since his own escape from hell. Their deaths were on his head. He wouldn't have anymore.

  He pushed the girl behind him and rolled his shoulders ready for the brawl, but did not shift even his claws into dragon form. He would take the beating before killing any of the cursed.

  "Come on, you dummy." She grabbed his hand and yanked him toward the center of the square that was not yet fully dark but was filling with people. "Don't wait for trouble to find you."

  She jerked him away from the burgeoning form of the demon dragon. Jett's arm just about pulled out of his socket before his feet caught up with her. Geez, she was fast. Unexpectedly fast. Whatever kind of being she was hiding behind her human facade had some giddy up and go. He struggled to keep up as she zigged and zagged through the people scurrying around. It wasn't hard to track the demon dragons coming after them, the screams were evidence enough that the bastards were gaining on them.

  "Over there." She switched directions and tugged his arm dragging him into hard right. She was heading toward a dark alley.

  Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. That way would be teeming with both friends and enemies with no room to tell the difference in a battle. The Black Dragon may be ready to expose them all to world, but Jett wasn't. He needed to get someplace secluded but not dark to shift into his dragon form and fly the two of them away from here.

  Before they reached the alley he shoved her into the open entryway to the last building. It was airy and bright, too fucking bright. Jett held his hand up over his eyes to block the glare of the hundreds of lightbulbs. He had to go and choose escape in a fucking lamp store.

  "Guten Tag. Womit kann ich Ihnen behilflich sein?" A human male spoke, but Jett growled at him and he scurried away.

  "Babe, do you see a stairwell? We need to go up to the rooftop." Babe. He didn't even know her name, but the nickname tasted good on his lips.

&nb
sp; "I am not your babe and no I don't see any stairs. We don't want to go up anyway. We'd be trapped on the roof." She gripped his wrist blocking out the glaring light, soothing his already tender skin with only her touch. "What is wrong with you? Why are you covering your face? Did they get you?"

  "No, I'm fine. Look again, if we can get to the roof I can get us out of here, away from the demon dragons."

  "Oh no. Did you get bonked on the head when I wasn't looking? Because unless you're Richy Rich and have a helicopter waiting at your beck and call, we're going to have to make a run for it. I'm pretty sure I can get us through that crowd."

  Damn the light was piercing his brain. Enough. He'd just have to tell her what he was and hope that didn't freak her the fuck out. Or not. "I don't know what you are and you don't have to tell me if you're not ready to reveal your form, but unless you're prepared to deal the Black Dragon himself, we have to get out of here now. I can shift and fly us someplace safe."

  "Dude. I don't have any idea what you're talking about and we're running out of option. Those things are gathering around the front of the store and they've got rocks."

  Rocks? Something whipped past his head and glass smashed in a sickening tinkle. He tried uncovering his eyes, but the glare from the bulbs seared into his brain. "Look. Either we find a way to get up to the roof or I shift here and now in the middle of this store, breaking all these fucking lightbulbs of death and those are the only thing keeping the demon dragons at bay."

  He should just do that anyway. Why was he still screwing around with her. He could shift, scare the shit out of the demon dragons, the cursed would back off, and he could fly away. He would, if it wasn't for the way her touch and her voice and the promise of more time in her company, possibly kissing her again kept him by her side.

  He was fucking pussy whipped and he hadn't even seen her with her clothes off yet. He was such a douche. Another rock whizzed through the air, then another and another. Glass shattered and his girl screamed. Fuck if he was letting any of that glass cut into her pearlescent skin marring it before he got to run his tongue over every inch of her.

  Eyes be damned. He would heal. Jett squinted blocking as much of the light out as he could and scanned the room. Fuck, it was like looking directly as the center of the sun. He was already seeing spots in his vision. The demon dragons were strategically taking out the lamps in a path to get to where he and the girl were near the cashier's desk. That was too smart a move for regular demon dragons. Which meant his brethren were directing the battle.

  That was either good, because they would let him get away, or very, very bad if the Black Dragon was close enough to be directing it himself. Jett couldn't take the risk of negotiating with them, not with this fragile being by his side.

  Said fragile being picked up a shard of glass and hurled it frisbee style slicing off the nearest demon dragon's head. It turned to a stain on the ground and the others backed away. There, in the center of the pack was one of his cursed brothers, scowling at Jett.

  "Jett comes, AllFather dies. Why Jett no comes?" His brother threw a rock directly at Jett which barely missed him hitting a chandelier behind them.

  Ah, shit.

  "Uh... is that thing talking to you?"

  Yes. "No. Come on. We're leaving." Jett lifted his girl in a fireman's carry, throwing her over his shoulder so he could shade his eyes with his other hand. Not to mention he got to grasp her with his arm wrapped around her plump ass. Which she wriggled.

  "Put me down." She pounded on his back, but only for a moment. "Scratch that. Run, run, run."

  What had to be a mountain of glass erupted behind him and Jett felt her press her face and arms into his back. He turned sideways using his body to block the majority of the shards from hitting her. The front of the store went dark and demon dragons swarmed in. Yeah. Time to run.

  Jett bolted into the maze of lamps toward the back of the store squinting, searching, trying find anything that could be an exit or a stairwell. This was a tall building, four stories at least. There had to be a way up. If all else failed he was ready to burn through the wall until he found one.

  "Dude, hurry up, they're gaining on us."

  Okay - fire it is. Jett let the magic that allowed him to shift bubble up just enough that he could send a fireball shooting across the room at the nearest wall. That opened up the wall into a neighboring shop filled with kitchen and bathroom fixtures. Some of which he'd melted.

  "You missed, dummy."

  He jumped up onto the nearest table and shot another ball of fire at the back wall. That sent the fire alarm off and water squirting from the ceiling. Aha. The stairs. Light poured in but already Jett saw puff of smoke rolling up from the darkness inside the stairwell. They had maybe ten seconds before demon dragons manifested there.

  He dove into the darkness, finally able to see again, minus the burns in his retinas and took the stairs two at a time, three, five, until he was bounding up entire flights.

  Screeches and screams echoed off the cement walls in such a cacophony that he couldn't tell from which direction the demon dragons were coming at them from. Probably above and below. They only had one more level to get to the roof. They were almost there.

  Two dark shadows deepened right in front of the door leading outside. Red eyes of fire peered at him through the darkness. "Jett comes. Now."

  He screeched to a halt and the girl squeaked as she banged into his back hard. "Ouch. Don't stop, they're still coming after us."

  Jett slowly slid her down his body and back to her feet. He relished every second of having her body pressed to his, feeling her shirt ride up and his hands slipping across the skin of her sides. This might be the last and only chance he'd have to touch her. Because they were probably about to get dragged to hell.

  "Sorry about dragging you into this, little thief. I swear I'll do my best to--" To what? Keep her safe? He'd already failed at that. Rescue her from hell? He was going to need rescuing himself. He didn't know how to finish that sentence so he didn't. Instead he bent his head down, hoping she wouldn't pull away. If he was going to die, or worse, he wanted his last good memory to be of kissing her.

  She was biting her bottom lip and he so wanted to help her with that. "Kiss me, babe. It may be the last thing we do."

  "Yvaine."

  "Not in vain. A memory we'll be able to hold on to in the depths of hell."

  "No, dummy, my name is Yvaine." She lifted up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his, sneaking the tip of her tongue into his mouth.

  Yvaine moaned into his mouth and he speared his hands into her hair, holding her to him, groaning his own pleasure back to her. The world around them exploded into a black light, tinged with red streaks, but he barely noticed. Maybe it was his brethren spewing fire, maybe they'd blown up the whole building trying to get to him. He didn't care. He only knew now that whoever and whatever his beautiful Yvaine was, she was his savior, and he would die protecting her.

  Attack of the Killer Batstriches

  Whew. If ever there was not a time to get kissed off her feet, this was it. Yvaine knew better. Didn't she? Apparently not. Because she wanted nothing more than to spend the next few minutes of their probably short lives with her mouth mashed to this man's. Who cared if weird scary monsters were about to eat them. At least she'd die happy. A virgin, but if this was as close as she was going to ever get to being deflowered, she'd take it. God, he felt, and tasted, and smelled, and did she say felt, really good. Like magical.

  "Jett comes now." One of the creatures growled and stepped closer. A few more steps and they would be well and truly trapped. They couldn't go back, but they were so close to the door to the roof she could practically taste the freedom.

  There was still the tiniest sliver of light between the monsters, the door, and her chance to get away. She could too. She could slip right between them and none of them would even notice until it was too late.

  And leave Jett behind.

  She liked that n
ame. It suited him. Those black eyes, his dark demeanor, that bad boy in a black leather jacket vibe that was so damn attractive. Everything about him was so broody and sexy. Which shouldn't matter a damn bit. So why wasn't she already running away?

  Damn if Yvaine knew. But she wasn't going to leave him.

  Which meant he was going to find out about all her weirdness. He already saw her pick pockets, but that was just a skill she'd learned, picked up out of necessity. Escape was like her super power, like good parking karma or knowing exactly when an avocado was perfectly ripe. It wasn't something she ever revealed to anyone. Ever.

  Her pseudo-super power was the only reason she was still alive today and how she'd gotten all the way to Germany without them finding her. She didn't know who they were, just that they'd been hunting her. Someone or something was always flippin' after her.

  She'd known this guy for all of twelve hours, ten of which she'd been either running away from him or asleep. No way she could trust him with a secret this big. Because what if he was from the They or part of a secret government agency who would want to dissect her and find out how she ticked?

  No was he was a G-man. A t-shirt, jeans, and more than a couple days of scruff weren't exactly the standard issue uniform for a super secret sneaky spy. James Bond this guy was not and Yvaine was no Bond girl.

  He brushed his lips ever so gently across hers and whispered against her mouth. "Stay behind me. If they take us to hell do your best to hide in the caverns. I will come for you."

  Uh, hell? No. Yvaine was ready to admit there were some things beyond her explanation, like her own escape artist abilities. She'd seen too many weird things since she'd left the convent not to believe, but actual heaven and hell. Naw. He meant like a horrible prison or something. He couldn't possibly mean actual hell. That wasn't a real thing.

  The evidence of monsters from hell in front of her aside. He was being one-hundo percent serious. Yvaine cringed her mind not allowing what she was seeing and experiencing to coalesce with the idea of the supernatural actually existing.