Bad Apple (The Uncertain Saints MC #4) (26 page)

Eight hours later, as I was leaving, I realized that yes, he could get sexier.

I’d successfully avoided Dean all day.

I’d seen him, yes. However, I hadn’t had to talk to him. In fact, the only person I did speak with the entire day was Chief Allen, who showed me what he needed, gave me what he had, and then had left me alone in the office to sort his shit and compare the city’s notes to his.

I’d even skipped lunch in order to avoid the sexiness that was Dean.

Now, though, I saw that my luck had run out.

“Well, hello there, pretty girl,” Dean’s smooth, deep voice, drawled.

My head snapped up from my contemplation of the concrete to find him sitting on his motorcycle directly next to my truck.

“H-hi, D-Dean,” I stuttered.

He grinned, and his straight white teeth flashed.

His eyes started at my toes and worked their way up as he took me in, and his grin widened.

“I like your shirt,” he said.

I looked down at my Kilgore Fire Department shirt that I’d bought from Allen as I’d left, then back up at him.

“I’m going to go eat, and I hate wearing dressy shirts out. They’re uncomfortable as hell, and I forgot my t-shirt to change into,” I blurted.

“Are you going to eat by yourself?” He asked, his eyes holding mine.

I nodded my head, my eyes searching his face.

I couldn’t make out the color in the near darkness, but I knew for a fact that they were a brown that resembled the color of melted chocolate.

In fact, I’d memorized quite a bit about Dean Hargrove.

I had a crush on him the size of Texas, and it only seemed to be getting worse.

Which might explain why I accepted his next offer.

“Go with me.”

Not even hesitating in the slightest I said, “Sounds good.”

Dragons Need Love, Too

10-19-16

Prologue

Nikolai

Alright, Jean Luc. You know what to do
, I said telepathically to my spotter.

Jean Luc hit the lights and the entire surrounding area went dark.

I blinked, and then suddenly I was seeing in shades of red, green, blue, yellow, and orange.

There’s a man in the back room, left corner. Gun. There’s a man in the right side of front room, in front of the television. One more on the back porch smoking a cigarette,
I relayed to my men that were surrounding the building.

10-4,
was echoed among them, and I started to creep forward on my hands and knees.

I had no clue what kind of security they had out here, but with my ability to control my body temperature, I hoped that whatever ultra-red/thermal cameras they had out here would be rendered useless with all the power I was expending.

Slowly, we all converged at once, moving stealthily through the long grass.

Perdita was overhead, circling closer and closer, looking at her own version of a thermal heat camera.

Perdita could do wonderful things, but one of the best was her ability to manipulate her ‘energy.’

She could appear hot, cold, or even dead. Anything she wanted you to see, you saw.

I also had that gift.

It was one that not even my older brother, the badass King of the Dragon Riders, had.

I could sense heat like a…well…dragon.

My bonded dragon, Perdita, was very unique, and from across ‘the pond’ as she put it.

She was from Ireland, and over eight hundred years old.

She’d never bonded to anyone but me; something that was the same for most dragons and their bonded dragon riders.

I’d not understood the depth of Perdita’s powers until we’d been bonded for four years.

She’d given me short lessons in how to harness her powers that she’d passed on to me, but I’d not been able to do so at first.

Mostly because I’d bonded with her at the young age of nineteen, instead of twenty-one.

I’d still been a boy, and hadn’t really understood the enormity of the situation until my brother had sat me down and explained that not even he’d bonded until he was twenty-one.

So it’d been a wakeup call to realize that Perdita hadn’t been completely honest with me until I’d accidentally used her gift on
her
.

Perdita was the queen of illusions, and was excellent at appearing harmless.

Ford, Alaric, Jean Luc, Ian and Dorian stopped when I hissed out a warning the second I saw the first trip wire.

There’s explosives. Be vigilant,
I ordered.

Do you want me to disable them, Boss?
Ian asked, being sure to say ‘boss’ sarcastically.

It was more than obvious that Ian didn’t want me in charge of him.

I refrained from growling at him. Was it necessary to be an ass while we were on a mission?
No
.

Negative. If we have to leave in a hurry, I don’t want them to be able to come for us at a quick pace. It’s best if they think they’re all inactive. It might prove useful later,
I explained to my men.

10-4,
Ian confirmed.

So we kept moving until we had about four feet in between us and the house.

Alright, Perdita. Do your thing.

Yes, Sire. You’ve got about ten minutes until I will no longer be able to hold it,
Perdita reminded me.

Perdita was so good.

All Perdita…or me for that matter, had to do was send out what was like a movie to the men in the house.

She was more selective than I was.

When I wanted to play the mind games, everyone within my immediate area saw the same thing.

The only ones’ immune were my brothers.

And they didn’t even realize things were different before, or after, Perdita and I played our mind games.

I wasn’t sure what she was showing them, but not one of them reacted as I moved into the house like I owned the place.

My limited telekinetic abilities enabled me to open the doors without breaking anything, then walk straight up to the first man and take him out with a sleeper hold.

He never even realized I was doing anything to him thanks to the illusion.

He stayed limply in my arms until he passed out from lack of oxygen.

Then, with the utmost care, I dropped him to the floor at my feet.

With the first man taken care of, I moved into the main room and started looking around.

After taking care of two more men, I came to the room where Brooklyn was being held and immediately started to sway at the horrid condition she was in.

She looked like death warmed over, and I wasn’t sure she’d even be alive long enough for Keifer’s mate to see her best friend again.

Her hair was in dark clumps of brown around her dirty face.

She was in a bra and bike shorts that accentuated how skinny she’d gotten since Blythe and her had graduated from nursing school only a few weeks before.

Bruises ran the length of her arms and legs.

A cut above her eye looked like it could’ve used stitches when she’d received it.

Now the only thing that would fix it was plastic surgery of some sort.

The icing on the cake, however, was the tear streaks that ran the length of her cheeks.

All of the bruises didn’t stop me from picking her up and walking out with her cradled in my arms. It didn’t matter if it hurt her or not. We needed to get out of here. Five minutes ago.

“Let’s go,” I said quietly once I reached the front door.

“You want me to take her?” Alaric asked
just softly.

I shook my head, trying to fight down the irrational surge of rage that shot through me at the mere mention of him the woman for me.

“Alaric and Jean Luc, follow us home. The rest of you need to stay to make sure we make a clean exit. If I don’t get her to my sister soon, she won’t make it,” I ordered hurriedly as Perdita hovered above us.

The moment Perdita and I made it a mile away, they would no longer be under her spell.

And that could possibly spell trouble for us getting away, unless the rest of them stayed to make sure nothing followed.