Brown, Berengaria - Dragons Redeemed [Dragon Lovers 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (6 page)

“Do you think we could get Angus or William, whoever collects Graegor, to plant a bug? That way we’d know if they told Teivel about the dragon,” asked Penllyn.

“Too dangerous. If they mention the statue, the first thing Teivel will do is look for a bug,” said Crevan.

“Yes, but he’s going to find out sooner or later anyway because the men will say the power was off,” argued Daegan.

“You know, these men aren’t great thinkers, but they won’t have survived in the world so far without a few clues. I bet they’ll just say the power was off, not that they were able to turn it back on themselves. They’ll likely think a safety switch tripped or something, and aren’t going to admit it took them hours and hours before they woke up and found out about it. If I were them, I’d just say the power went off and leave it at that. Also, because they’ll want to cover their asses, that may mean they don’t get all chatty and ask about the statue. They’ll want Teivel to leave their food and go, and not ask questions about the power outage. So I think a bug would be okay,” said Graegor. He had a good feeling for this. He felt confident he could guess how the watchers would think.

But he really needed to get back. He had a feeling about that, too, and that was that one or the other of them was certain to wake up needing the bathroom, and he’d discover the power was out then. And Graegor had to be back sitting exactly where they’d left him before that happened. “I must go.”

“Be careful,” said Daegan.

Penllyn patted him on the shoulder.

“Stay alert,” said Crevan.

“I’ll learn what I can. You guard our lady,” replied Graegor.

The watchers were little more than a block away, and it only took a very few minutes to fly from one roof to the other. He’d left the roof door ajar, and sneaking inside was very easy. Fortunately, the watchers hadn’t wakened and noticed he’d taped the latch of the door, so although it appeared shut, it actually wasn’t. Mentally heaving a huge sigh of relief, Graegor took the tape off the latch, quietly locked the door, dropped the tape into the trash can with all the fast food wrappers, and settled himself on the top of the cupboard where they’d originally placed him.

Finally he could relax and collect his thoughts. Before he had to be back on duty monitoring Teivel’s plans, he really wanted some time just to himself to think about Trudy. To remember every moment, every touch, every tiny detail from the wonderful sex they’d just shared. Being with her last night had been wonderful. Being
in
her tonight had been the fulfillment of his dreams for many years. Graegor knew she was their soul mate. When he’d been inside her, the connection between them had been intense. It’d never been like that with any other woman he’d slept with. Not when he was by himself, and not when he’d shared a woman with his dragon team.

Trudy was theirs. He knew it. Inside his two-foot-high oak statue form, Graegor grinned. They knew it. She might not know it. But he was prepared to wait. The four of them would watch over her and keep her safe. And one day, hopefully not too far away, they’d make her theirs forever.

Chapter Four

Penllyn had accompanied Trudy once before as she conducted her locksmithing business. He found it fascinating to see another side of her, a harder, business-focused side. Trudy had an intelligent brain. She analyzed everything, and when she made a decision, it was one that was both logical and smart.
It’s no wonder her business is doing well
.

Once again he followed her around, sitting quietly in a corner while she answered e-mails, fetched and carried her equipment as she loaded and unloaded her truck, stood well back and tried to look invisible as she quoted on several new jobs, and always kept a lookout for any potential danger or ill-doer. He thought he was likely wasting his time, but he knew he couldn’t leave her unprotected by at least one of them.

The oak dragon brothers or Celtic dragons. They weren’t actual siblings, but a group of dragon shifters, all Celtic, and all carved from oak. As such, they’d instantly connected with each other and become a team, a group, brothers as it were. They’d stayed together and supported and advised each other for over a hundred years. The knowledge that they’d found their soul mate at last was so thrilling Penllyn couldn’t help dragging it out to think about it every time he had a quiet moment.

Trudy was everything he could have dreamed of. Beautiful, feisty, clever, a fully rounded person in every way, and more than a match for the four of them. Only a very special woman could cope with four partners, and Trudy had already proven she was more than capable of the task. She was hotter than hell in bed and just as worthy a companion out of it.

Penllyn had to hide a grin as he remembered Trudy putting her knee into Crevan’s balls and then his own shocked surprise as he went sailing over her shoulder. He’d never have believed such a tiny little female could do that to a big, fit man like himself if he hadn’t experienced it.

Crevan was spending the day re-establishing himself in the human world, organizing food and clothes, and locating an apartment big enough for the five of them. Penllyn was looking forward to that, to when they were a family in their own place. The museum was well enough for now, but to settle down as a family, they needed a home of their own. Penllyn wondered how Crevan was getting on with that task. It wouldn’t be easy finding an apartment that was totally secure, and big enough for four men and a woman, in an area where such a household wouldn’t attract unwelcome attention. In fact, Penllyn was glad he was guarding Trudy and the apartment was Crevan’s problem.

Graegor had still been with the watchers when Penllyn and Trudy had left the museum that morning, but he would be back there by now with Daegan. Mallory had sent them a very detailed list of instructions about cleaning some more statues. It sounded as if she was beginning to demand to get back to work, and Penllyn didn’t envy Angus, Mark, and William having to keep her away for another day.

Now that the museum security was upgraded, she’d be able to return, but that just made it all the more urgent for Crevan to find their own family an apartment. Penllyn thought they’d likely stay in a hotel for a few days once Mallory returned, but they definitely needed a home of their own, and soon.

Penllyn was really looking forward to their being a family. Not just the sex, although he knew that would be awesome. The time to be alone to talk, to share their hopes, dreams, and aspirations, to play silly games or eat popcorn while watching a movie. He also couldn’t wait until the clothing he’d ordered online arrived. Penllyn looked down at the black business shoes he was wearing. Oh how he hated them. They were Mark’s shoes from some years ago, and the sooner the new shoes Penllyn had bought for himself arrived, the happier he’d be.

He was back in Trudy’s office, sitting in a corner where he had a clear line of sight to both the window and the door. Not that he thought anything would happen. But he just felt more comfortable that way. She was returning phone calls and answering e-mails, doing the two things at once in the way only a woman seemed able to do. Penllyn felt sure if it was him, he’d end up saying what he was typing instead of answering the person on the line. But Trudy seemed to be managing just fine.

She made a few notes in her cell phone, likely appointments for the next few days, he assumed, then answered another call.

“Yes, Mr. Collin, yes, I can come out and look over your business…At midnight? That’s a little unusual…You want me to see the problems that might arise?…Yes. Uh-huh. No worries. Tenth Street at midnight tonight. See you then.” Trudy hung the phone up.

Penllyn jumped out of his chair and raced across the room, gripping her arms, the hair on the back of his neck standing up warning him of trouble. “You aren’t going anywhere alone at midnight, job or no job,” he said fiercely.

“Calm down,” she said, brushing him off as easily as if he was a mosquito on her sweater. “How often do I have to tell you four that I can look after myself? Of course I won’t go alone. I won’t go at midnight either. I’ll go about eleven thirty and see what he’s got hiding there. Quite likely it’s totally innocent, in which case I’ll do a security assessment. If it’s not, I’ll be gone long before midnight.”

“We’ll all be with you.”

“Not if you plan to go all caveman and stop me doing my job. A couple of you can sit on the rooftops in dragon form to keep a lookout for trouble. And only one of you may accompany me as long as you don’t get in my way and don’t try to answer any questions addressed to me. Understand?”

Penllyn laughed. Damn but she was a tough little thing. She knew her own mind, and there was no shifting her. “Yes, ma’am. But you need to understand we want to protect you.”

“Protect is fine. Try wrapping me in bubble wrap, and you’ll all be singing soprano for a week.”

He took her in his arms and kissed her. “Woman, I love you, but your right knee should be classified as a weapon. Save it for the bad guys, eh?”

* * * *

Trudy was well aware of how nervous the four men were about this meeting with Mr. Collin. Certainly, it was a little unusual to meet at midnight, but he’d said he wanted her to assess his business by night, which made sense. She’d worked before with people who’d made some strange requests, and mostly it’d been fine. She wasn’t an innocent princess. She knew damn well what kind of things happened in this town to women who let themselves be talked into dangerous areas, and she had no intention of risking her safety. But a job was a job, and she wasn’t so well off she could afford to blindly refuse to quote on security when asked.

Having said all that, she was wearing her work boots with the steel toecaps, and she’d wrapped some padding around her right knee under her jeans so she could drive it even more forcefully into a man’s most sensitive area if needed. It’d worried her that Crevan hadn’t been completely incapacitated when she’d kneed him. Of course, now she knew him, she was glad she hadn’t hurt him. But still, at the time, she’d have been a lot happier if he’d been hurt more. A would-be assailant lying on the sidewalk gasping for breath meant she could be a block away before he was even capable of getting to his feet.

Shortly after eleven, Crevan and Daegan, the two darkest colored dragons, left for the rooftops on Tenth Street. Because of the watchers, they took the stairs up to the roof, inching the fire door open only the minimum distance needed for them to squeeze out and duck behind the shrubbery. There they left their jeans, transformed, and disappeared well away from any camera lens.

A few minutes later, Trudy and Graegor left openly by the front door at exactly the same time Penllyn snuck out the back door. “With a modicum of luck, that will have confused Teivel,” Trudy whispered as they started walking down the street. She set a brisk but sustainable pace. Although it was only nine blocks, she didn’t want to arrive short of breath or unable to run if necessary. Wearing her heavy boots was perfect for fighting but less desirable for running. She’d weighed up the decision quite carefully and gone with the fight power.

She had a clear mental image of the town but couldn’t picture the building she was to assess. The neighborhood around Tenth was a middling one of businesses and shops. Hopefully the building wouldn’t be too old. Older structures were always harder to deal with as the wiring and plumbing were not necessarily up to code for current standards, and good wiring was essential in her business.

She kept her gaze straight ahead, but she knew Graegor would look for Crevan and Daegan on the rooftops, and if there was a problem up there, somehow they would communicate. She must ask them how they did that. They seemed to talk without words at times yet had assured her they couldn’t read her mind. Was that it? They could only read each other’s minds, not other people’s? Or only males, not females? Or only other dragon shape-shifters? No, that couldn’t be right because they hadn’t known what Graegor had been doing when he was with the watchers.
Right, I’ll ask them tonight. I need to know exactly what their capabilities are.

“So far so good,” whispered Graegor.

She nodded, still keeping her face forward but her body alert as it always was when she walked the streets, day or night. This was not a particularly dangerous town, but a woman always had to pay attention to what was going on around her.

When they arrived at the building, Trudy walked around the outside of it, looking at the high, blank side walls, the one barred window beside the door at the back, and the heavy front door. There was no sign or nameplate out front. “This looks more like a lock-up warehouse than an office building. It’s certainly not designed to draw in trade from off the street,” she said.

She climbed the three steps to the front door and pressed the buzzer. A disembodied, mechanical voice said, “Please look up at the camera and state your name clearly.”

Looking straight ahead, Trudy replied, “Do you have so very many people at your door at midnight? Is this a vampire bar or something?”