Daughter of the Dragon Read online

  “No buts, it’s getting late,” Karim said firmly.

  “Fine.” Amaya stuck her lower lip out. “But will I see you tomorrow?” she asked Deedee.

  “Maybe,” she answered. “I mean, it depends on what Karim has planned.”

  “I do have an idea, but I want to run it by you first.”

  The limo stopped, but before she could say anything else, the door opened, and a man popped his head in. “Your Highness, apologies for the intrusion.”

  “What is it, Vahid?” he asked.

  “Mr. Glaser is upstairs, and he wanted to personally go over the press release with you before he sends it out in the morning,” Vahid said. “He says it shouldn’t take too long.”

  Karim sighed. “That’s what he said the last time, but he does tend to get very long-winded.” He turned to her. “I’m sorry, I must go upstairs. The limo will take you home.”

  Her heart sank, but she understood. He was doing this for Amaya. “Of course. How about breakfast tomorrow morning?” She smiled at Amaya. “There’s this place I know where we can get these huge pancakes.”

  “Pancakes?” Amaya’s face lit up.

  “Yes, they’re the size of your head,” Deedee said with a laugh. “Third Street Diner. You can’t miss it. Let’s say eight o’clock?”

  “We shall see you there,” Karim said. “Goodnight, Desiree.”

  She bid them goodnight, then the door closed. Settling into the leather seat, she looked out, watching Karim and Amaya as they entered the hotel. Tomorrow then, she would tell him. Yes, the first opportunity she got; she would say it. She’d been practicing it in her head since last night, so it should be easy, right?

  The limo dropped her off in front of her townhouse, with one of the Almoravid opening the door for her as she gathered her coat and purse. “Thank you.” She waved him away when he attempted to follow her to her door. Surely she wasn’t in any danger between the sidewalk and her front door, so there was no need for him to escort her.

  Taking her keys out of her purse, she entered the darkened front foyer. As she reached for the light switch on the left side, her hand froze. Her she-wolf’s hackles rose, and she knew there was something—no, someone—inside her house.

  With a careful, quiet gait, she crept into the living room. Her eyes were just adjusting when she heard a voice call out from the darkness.

  “Deedee, it’s me.”

  Her body deflated like a balloon when she recognized who it was. Heading over to the nearest light switch, she flipped it on, bathing the room in light, revealing the figure standing in the middle of her living room.

  Yes, there was no mistake. It was Cross.

  Her mouth went dry at the sight of him. Oh, he seemed almost larger than life now, in the flesh so to speak. This was definitely Cross, but somehow … he seemed different. His mouth was pulled back into a grim line, and his entire body was tense, like he was being stretched taut by invisible strings.

  Not only that, but he was physically different. The sides of his head were shaved, but the top was left long and pulled back into a ponytail, while his beard was more grizzled. The tank top he wore showed fresh new ink down his arms and hands. When her gaze went north, she was taken aback by the stormy, turquoise depths of his eyes, and for a brief moment, the memory of that painting flashed back in her mind. They were the same, yet not, and she couldn’t put her finger on why it seemed so.

  She wrung her hands together. “What are you doing here?”

  He took a step toward her, heavy boots thudding on the hardwood floors. “I came as soon as I heard you were taken.”

  “Too late, that was days ago.” She stepped around the couch to meet him halfway, dropping her purse on the loveseat. “Much too late.”

  The words made him flinch. Good.

  “I’m sorry.”

  You should be. But she kept her lips pursed together.

  “I was wrong, Dee.”

  Hold on. She blinked. This is what she had been dreaming of these past months, right? That Cross would come to her, tell her that he was sorry, and that he was wrong to have rejected her.

  “I shouldn’t have stayed away from you.”

  Her entire body felt like jelly, and she sank down onto the loveseat. “Cross, you can’t—”

  “Hear me out.” In an instant he was beside her, taking her hands into his. “I’ve been on communication blackout for days. Your father’s message that you might be in danger arrived a few hours ago, and I came as soon as I could. I’ve been waiting here for you.”

  Did he know she’d been out with Karim? “I … I don’t know what to say.”

  “I should have been there to rescue you, Dee.” He scrubbed a hand down his beard. “No, I shouldn’t have driven you away.”

  “You didn’t—”

  “Of course I did.” There was that slight smile, the one she remembered so well. Her heart began to thump in her chest, realizing how close they were and that his hands were wrapped around hers, holding them so intimately. She’d always felt so small and delicate next to him. “You told me how you felt, and I should have tried … Deedee, I …”

  It was like a thousand butterflies began to flutter in her stomach. His face was coming in closer, his hands gripped hers tighter. This was it … the moment she’d been waiting for, for what seemed like years. His eyes closed as he moved in and—

  She turned her face away, and his lips landed on her cheek. And even that felt weird.

  A sigh escaped his mouth, and he leaned his forehead against her temple. “I’m sorry, Dee.”

  “No, don’t be sorry,” she whispered. “Be anything else but sorry.”

  And suddenly, it was like the butterflies in her stomach just disappeared. Cross was here because he felt guilty, that he thought he was the reason she had run away and had been taken. The truth was, she did that all by herself, and if she hadn’t, she never would have met Karim and fallen in love with him. Oh, she knew it be true now, more than ever.

  “You feel different about me now?” Soulful ocean-colored eyes searched hers.

  “I don’t think I knew how I felt about you.” She never loved Cross—or maybe she did, but it was a childhood crush, nothing more. It was time to put it away and grow up. “Do you feel different about me after all these months?”

  There was a long pause before he answered. “I could, Dee. I’m sure I could learn to love you back … that way.”

  “Oh goodness.” She shook her head. This was all so wrong and she wanted to laugh. “Now what? Are we supposed to date, get married, and live happily ever after? No, thank you. I’d rather be alone than to be with someone who was with me because of guilt. I deserve better.”

  “That’s not what I meant, Dee.”

  “Isn’t it?”

  “I—” He squeezed her hands tighter. “I keep messing this up. I didn’t mean to push you away. If you hadn’t gone on that trip, you would have been safe here.”

  “Don’t blame yourself for what happened to me. First of all, I’m an adult, and I make my own decisions.” She gave a little laugh. “Second, my father overreacted to this whole thing.”

  “I thought I could love you the way you love—loved me,” he admitted. “But that’s wrong. I shouldn’t have come here. I would have used you to forget—” His lips clamped together.

  She looked up into his face and realized that something had changed in him. This Cross in front of her … he seemed harder and more closed off. Not the carefree young man he’d been in their youth. “What happened, Cross?” His jaw hardened, but she pressed on. “Please, I’m your best friend. You can talk to me. You can tell me anything.”

  “Dee …” His voice was raw, like his throat was thick with emotion. “I found—”

  The rapping at the door made him stop. Who could that be at this hour?

  Cross tensed and placed a hand on her knee. “Don’t move. I’ll go check who it is.”

  “What?” Before she knew it, Cross disappeared and then
reappeared by her front door, peeking out her peephole. “Who is it?”

  “Stay inside,” Cross warned. “It’s that guy Sebastian warned me about in his message.”

  “That guy—oh no!” Did her father send Cross to get rid of Karim? Of all the sneaky— “Wait, Cross, you don’t understand.”

  “If he thinks he can just come in here and take you—”

  “Desiree? Who’s in there?” The knocking became more insistent. “Open this door now!”

  Her stomach dropped when Cross grabbed the doorknob and yanked it open. On the other side, Karim had a fist raised, knuckles out. When his eyes landed on Cross, his eyes blazed with the fury of his dragon.

  “Who in An’s name are you, and what are you doing here?”

  Cross stretched to full height and his eyes, too, were aglow. “I should ask you the same. You’re not taking her from here, I don’t care if you’re a prince. Or a dragon.”

  Karim’s eyes were an icy river of blue. “What is this man doing here in the middle of the night?”

  “Karim, I can explain—”

  “Leave now,” Cross warned. “Stay away from her.”

  “Do you have any idea who you’re speaking with?”

  “Do you?” Cross countered. “We’ve taken her back. You can’t just stroll in here and take her away again.”

  “I don’t know what that blasphemer has told you, but I did not kidnap her nor am I here to—” Karim stopped short, his expression turning to confusion, realization, then finally back to anger. “You. It’s you.”

  Cross seemed taken aback. “Me?”

  Karim’s gaze flickered to her. “It’s him, isn’t it? The man in the painting.”

  “What painting?” Fury crossed Cross’s face as he stepped forward and grabbed Karim by the collar. “If you’ve taken a painting—”

  “You dare touch a prince of Zhobghadi!” Karim wrenched Cross’s hands away. “I’ll show you—”

  “Stop! Please, stop!” Deedee cried as she got between them. “Don’t.” She was looking at Cross.

  “Deedee, I don’t understand. Your father—”

  “Look, I know you just got here,” she began. “But you don’t know the whole picture. He’s not here to kidnap me. If he was, then I’d be gone by now. Find Jacob, and he’ll tell you the truth.”

  “My cousin?”

  “Yes. He should be at Blood Moon.”

  “Dee, I’m not leaving you alone with him.”

  “Go,” she urged Cross. “If you do care for me, then you’ll leave. Now.”

  The look of hurt on his face made her heart lurch. But if he didn’t leave now, Karim was going to go all dragon, she could feel it. Her she-wolf could feel it, and was warning her with loud yips.

  “All right.” Cross’s shoulders sank. “If you want me to go, then I’ll leave.”

  “Yes, just go, Cross.”

  He leaned down to whisper in her ear, then put something in her hand. “Call me if you need me, and I will find you.” And with that, he disappeared.

  She blinked, then opened her hand and stared at what he had placed in her palm. It was a small gold disc, stamped with a wolf’s head. What was this? And what did Cross mean when he said he would find her? And what about—Karim!

  She didn’t even notice that he had turned around and was walking toward his waiting limo.

  “Karim, wait!” She dashed down the stoop steps and grabbed his arm. “Don’t go, Karim,” she pleaded.

  He stopped and turned his head to her. “Don’t go? Why, because he’s gone now?”

  “Don’t be like this, Karim.”

  “I came to you because I could not wait until tomorrow to see you.” He grit his teeth. “And then I find another man in your home, in the middle of the night! And not only that, he’s the one in that painting you were so fascinated by.”

  “I wasn’t—”

  “Don’t lie to me, Desiree,” he growled. “I deserve the truth.”

  He was right. Karim had been truthful to her, but she hadn’t. “Cross is my friend. My best friend. We grew up together.” Tears burned in her throat, but she continued on. “Then a few months ago, we were attacked, and I thought I was going to die, so I confessed my feelings for him. He didn’t return them.”

  “And then what happened?”

  “I left New York. I mean, got the grant and went on my dig—”

  “So, he is the real reason.”

  His words sounded so final, like a door slamming as it closed. “No, I didn’t leave because of him. I mean … yes, it was too painful to stay here, but I still had to do my research—”

  “That’s not what I meant, Desiree.”

  She looked up at him. “What do you mean? I don’t understand.”

  “Don’t you?”

  The tone of his voice chilled her. “Karim, I—”

  “Save it,” he sneered. “Save it for the one that is really in your heart.”

  His words shook her to the core. Did he really believe that? Oh Lord, she should have told him earlier. Should have returned his words as soon as he said it. But the numbing pain made her stay in the spot, watching helplessly as Karim got into his limo, and the vehicle drove away.

  When she realized that he was finally gone, her knees buckled. She caught herself before she crumpled to the ground and hobbled over to her stoop. She sat down and buried her face in her hands as the tears began to flow, though she clamped her lips to imprison a sob welling in her chest. Despite her throat aching with defeat, she managed to stand up and drag herself upstairs and back into her home.

  When she stumbled inside, a sound from the living room sobered her up. What in the world? Rushing toward the sound, she stopped when she saw who was standing next to her couch.

  “A-Astrid?”

  Dressed in her bathrobe, her stomach still rounded with pregnancy, her best friend stood there, her brows furiously snapping together when she saw Deedee’s tear-stricken face. “Cross brought me here, said you might need me. Zac’s not happy but he understands.” She waddled over to her. “Dee, what happened?”

  She collapsed into her best friend’s open arms. “Astrid …”

  Chapter Twenty

  “What is it now?” Karim barked at Vahid when he came into the suite.

  The hapless secretary was practically shaking in his moccasins. “Y-Your Highness. Mr. Glaser is outside and wants to speak with you.”

  “I am tired of that man’s fawning. Will you be useful for once today, and tell him to go away?”

  Vahid flinched. “Y-yes, Your Highness.” His bow and salute with his fist over his heart was quick, as if he couldn’t wait to leave.

  Karim did not blame him because he’d been a real beast this morning. Amaya even told him so when she walked out this morning after she threw a tantrum when he told her there would be no pancakes for breakfast and that she should pack because she would be leaving for Zhobghadi that very day. The media, of course, had already received the press release, and now they were camped outside The Plaza. He feared for her safety and wondered if it was a mistake to introduce her to the world. Mistake or no, Amaya had been furious and refused to speak to him, not even before she left for the airport.

  Yes, he’d been a total bastard the whole morning. Gods, he’d been in a fury since last night when he left Desiree’s home.

  It was such a contrast to earlier in the night. He was practically walking on air, having her on his arm, holding her hand in that darkened theater. And he could see it in her eyes. Tenderness. Affection. And maybe even love. It took all his strength not to whip out the black velvet box he’d been carrying in his pocket since he left Zhobghadi and propose to her.

  That damned Glaser and his press release! As soon as he was done, he had raced to her home. He thought to surprise, and maybe she would finally say those words he’d been waiting to hear.

  Little did he know that he would be the one surprised, to find her alone, with another man.

  The Great One
snorted in displeasure. It wanted to burn this rival to ashes. Sure, Desiree made the other man leave, but then she told him the truth.

  Finally, he knew the real reason she couldn’t return his feelings. It wasn’t because things were going too fast, but rather, it was because she was in love with another man. He should have known, after seeing her face when she saw that portrait of him. She must really love him, for his rejection to drive her far away. Was she thinking of him the entire time they were together? Wishing he’d been the first one to take her, initiate her into lovemaking? The one who’s child she could be possibly carrying?

  He let out a roar and grabbed the first thing he could—a vase filled with flowers—and slung it against the wall, sending glass chips, water, and long-stemmed roses, everywhere. “Nergal, take it all!” And he would let the God of Plague and War have everything he possessed if it would make this confounding ache in his chest go away.

  “Well, did that help, or did you just destroy a perfectly good crystal vase?”

  “Who—how did you get in here?”

  That fiendish pregnant woman—Astrid, Future Beta of New York—was standing in front of his door, her hands on her hips and face scrunched up in fury. “You’re not asking the right questions, buddy. Maybe you should be asking why I’m here.”

  “I’ve doubled the guards, and we’ve hired our own extra security to keep people away from this floor. How did you manage—” The door swung open, and Delacroix stepped in, answering his question. “Of course.”

  “Hey, cherie, I showed you my trick, maybe next time, show me yours?”

  “Sorry, my back was killing me, and I had to get in here and give this asshole a piece of my mind!” Astrid rubbed a hand on her lower back, then hobbled over to the nearest chair. “Anyway, where was I?” She looked up to Karim. “Oh yeah, I was about to tear you a new one.”

  “You’re mad at me?” The nerve of this woman. “Did you not know that it is your friend who is in love with another? That she was the one who had him in her house—”

  “Hold on!” She raised a hand up. “As much as I want my best friend and my brother to end up together, it’s obvious to me that you’re the only one she wants.”