Asher Read online

  He nodded, touching the tendrils of her bright hair that’d escaped from her hairstyle, and that lifted and fell in the teasing breeze. His heart shuddered. He’d do anything for this woman. “I’m yet to smell anything as nice as your hair.”

  She giggled, sounding as free as the sea breeze right then even as she tilted her head closer to this touch. “That’s my vanilla shampoo.” She blinked up at him. “Of course in this country everywhere you go you’ll probably always smell eucalyptus. It’s a very distinctive scent.”

  He sucked in another breath, filling his lungs with her vanilla scent, which mingled sublimely with every other scent she’d identified. “I’m only glad I crashed landed here,” he said huskily, his chest aching as he stared at the visual of her beneath the lights. She was dazzling, a beacon to his senses.

  “So am I,” she said softly, blinking up at him as though he was still the mighty king of his people. Not one of the last surviving species of his race.

  Reginald stepped toward them, a drink in hand, and Asher took a mouthful of the amber liquid in his own glass. The whiskey burned its way down his throat, taking away the bitter taste left in his mouth. He’d lost so many of his people, women and children, and yet he still lived.

  The older man stared at him. “So where are you from Asher? What do you do for a living?”

  Asher frowned. Not because the other man was trying to gauge something more from him, not even because of the guilt he carried around. He instantly sensed Marissa’s discomfit, and he wanted only to see her smile again.

  He focused on Reginald. “I believe I’ve already told you.”

  Reginald barked out a harsh laugh. “Right. So you’re still going along with that story, then?”

  Marissa stepped closer. “Perhaps you need to show him, Asher? Prove him wrong once and for all.”

  “Show me what?” Reginald blustered, even as his new wife approached with a glass of wine in hand.

  “Perhaps you’re right,” Asher murmured, brushing his fingertips under Marissa’s jawline before he closed his eyes. When his eyelids next flicked open, his vision was startlingly clear.

  Amanda’s glass smashed onto the floor as she gaped at him, and Asher could easily have counted every single line grooved into her face and flaring out around her eyes. He didn’t need twenty-twenty vision to see the burst of shock in Reginald’s stare, or the flash of pride in Marissa’s.

  His heart warmed and hope almost paralyzed him as the truth hit him. He’d do anything to continue to have Marissa admire and respect him. Even if that meant lying to her about knowing she was a breeder.

  “So it is true,” Reginald said hoarsely. “You’re not from Earth.”

  Asher’s stare returned to normal even as Amanda backed away and said in a shrill voice, “I ... I can’t be here right now,” before she spun around and clattered back inside on her high heels.

  Reginald blew out a heavy breath. “Amanda will be fine. I’ll talk to her later.” He focused on Asher. “What I need to know now is who or what are you, and why are you here?”

  Asher nodded, respecting the fact that Reginald was at least willing to listen and learn. He wasn’t completely dissimilar to his daughter. “I’m from a planet called Riddich, where my people and I lived in peace for many centuries ... until another alien race wanted what we had in abundance.”

  “And what exactly do they want?” Reginald rasped.

  Asher pushed back sharp loss and a much heavier weight of rage whenever he thought of his enemy and what they’d done. “My people have an energy within that enables us to become another creature ... a dragon.” He ignored the older man’s widening eyes. “It’s that same energy the Tantonics want for themselves, an energy they’ve learned to extract and harness.”

  Marissa moved to Asher’s side, her stare capturing her father’s. “It’s the truth. I’ve seen them too.”

  Reginald frowned, clearly not liking the direction the conversation was heading.

  Asher didn’t blame him. “The Tantonics blew most of my people to kingdom come and captured and imprisoned the rest. Well, except for a small number of us who escaped to different planets. My craft crash landed here on Earth.”

  Reginald sucked back the remainder of his drink before he asked, “Do these Tantonic aliens you speak of know where you are?”

  He nodded. “I’ve been on the run from them since landing on Earth.”

  Reginald drew in a sharp breath. “So you’ve dragged my daughter into this mess with you?”

  “It’s not like that!” Marissa protested. “Asher tried to leave me behind. I had to practically beg him to change his mind.”

  Reginald turned to Marissa with a shake of his head. “You’ve always brought home strays and wounded to look after and protect. Clearly nothing has changed.”

  Her eyes flashed. ”Except Asher is a person just like you and me!”

  “He’s a dragon!” Reginald roared. “That makes him an animal too!”

  Asher held the other man’s gaze and said quietly, “What I am is a man who’d protect your daughter with my life.”

  Reginald’s stare didn’t soften; instead something harder, more unyielding glinted in his eyes. “You couldn’t even save your own people, why would I believe you’d save my daughter’s life?”

  “Dad! Stop!”

  Asher felt a piece of him break apart inside. “It’s the truth, Marissa. It’s pointless to deny it.”

  Reginald’s jaw tightened even before he turned to Marissa. “Stay here with us and let this ... alien, face the Tantonics alone. Please.”

  Asher ignored the drowning sensation inside as he nodded at Marissa and said quietly, “You should do as he says. It will be safer for you, for us both.”

  Hurt flashed in her stare. “Is that really what you want?”

  “What I want is to never see you hurt and not be on the run for the rest of your life.”

  She blinked. “And what about what I want?” she whispered. Before either he or Reginald could answer, she added, “Because I don’t want to spend the rest of my life regretting letting go of the one man on this planet who has made me feel alive again.”

  Reginald seemed lost for words, and Asher wasn’t faring much better. He’d hoped she had feelings for him, but he’d never believed those feelings would run deeper than the breeder in her instinctively yearning for sex.

  Not in a million years.

  “I mean it, Asher,” she said. “You’re not doing this alone. Not anymore.”

  Reginald’s stare glittered. “I can’t believe you’ve involved my daughter.” He inhaled sharply. “Will those Tantonics take Earth over next? Are we all in danger?”

  Asher tried not to judge the man. Reginald clearly also wanted to protect his new wife, the same as Asher wanted to protect Marissa. “I don’t believe they will. There’s no energy here which they can harvest for themselves.”

  Reginald visibly wilted about the same time Tenille’s sing-song voice cut through the charged silence. “Dinner’s ready in five minutes!” The completely oblivious housekeeper lifted her hand in a little wave before she spun away to return downstairs to the dining room.

  Marissa touched Asher’s forearm, and his whole body sparked with electricity. Her eyes held his, serious and intent. “Let’s eat, and then we’ll leave. Together.”

  Reginald’s face paled as he stared at his daughter. “Where will you go?”

  She turned to him. “I’m not sure, but it’s probably best you don’t know anyway.”

  Reginald’s voice cracked. “If you won’t stay, I’d at least like to help in any way I can. I don’t want to lose you again.”

  Marissa stilled, indecision written all over her face. Then she nodded and said, “There is one thing you can do.”

  Reginald nodded. “Of course. Anything.”

  “We borrowed the car we drove here from a sweet lady in the country. Could you please return it along with something nice to thank her?”

  �
�Done.”

  She managed a smile, and then added, “And if you could find someone who’d lease my farm and look after my mare, Winnie, and my cattle, I’d really appreciate it.”

  “Of course.” He smiled. “Is that all?”

  She pressed her teeth into her bottom lip. “If we could borrow one of your cars that would be great too.”

  “On one condition.”

  She stiffened. “Yes?”

  “You come back and visit me again really soon.”

  All her tension visibly melted away as she looked at her father and said softly, “Agreed.”

  Joy flooded Asher knowing that at least a little of Marissa’s emotional pain had been lifted. He only wished he could offer her a similar deal and that his own life wasn’t in such turmoil.

  Yet the moment he clasped her hand in his and escorted her to the dining table downstairs, he knew their being together was right. Their being apart just wasn’t an option anymore, no matter how much he battled with his conscience.

  He pulled a chair out for Marissa and then took a seat next to her at the big black polished table. She sent him a small smile and his heart dipped in response. He exhaled carefully. He wouldn’t allow even one Tantonic to touch a single, precious hair on her head.

  Tenille brought out steaming dishes and placed them in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves. Marissa leaned close to him and named each dish. “Asian noodles. Chicken casserole. Greek salad. Roast pork with potatoes, pumpkin and peppercorn gravy.”

  Asher didn’t much care about table manners as he shoveled the delicious food into his mouth. He needed all the calories he could store in order to convert into energy for his next dragon shift. Needed every advantage if he was to protect Marissa and, in a year’s time, meet his crew again, his sister.

  Marissa laughed as she watched him devour the food. She turned to Tenille. “Please give our compliments to the chef for his amazing cooking.”

  Tenille beamed. “Will do.” She arched a brow at Reginald. “Is Amanda not hungry again?”

  Reginald put his knife and fork down. “Perhaps I should see if she’s okay. She’s had quite the shock today.”

  Tenille’s eyebrow lifted a little higher. “Oh?”

  He smiled. “Nothing for you to be concerned about, Tenille.”

  Amanda chose that moment to walk downstairs, her face averted and her body stiff and unyielding. Asher stopped eating for a moment even as Reginald stood and pulled out the chair next to his own.

  “Are you okay?” Reginald asked her.

  She nodded, her mouth a tight line. “Yes, I’m fine.”

  Asher swallowed. The exquisite food was no longer palpable. Something wasn’t right, and he’d learned long ago to trust in his dragon senses that’d been honed even further by war.

  Marissa’s hand clasped his thigh, a reassuring touch. But Asher froze at a far off sound. His eyes narrowed on Amanda. “What have you done?”

  Amanda blanched even as Marissa asked him, “What’s going on?

  He turned to her, but his voice carried around the thick silence of the room. “There are soldiers at the gates.”

  He stood and held out his hand to Marissa. “We have to leave. Now.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Marissa stood, the best meal she’d eaten for too long sitting barely touched on her plate. Every one of her senses was attuned to Asher. He’d already started his shift, pushing through an unbearable agony once again just to survive.

  She glanced at her father, reading his utter shock and dismay as easily as she read his wife’s guilt. Marissa only hoped Amanda drowned in that particular emotion. The woman had no right to report Asher to the police, or whoever the hell she’d contacted. She’d had no right at all!

  Marissa tilted her chin. “I’m sorry Dad, but my life is with Asher now.”

  Her father pushed to his feet, his chair scraping loudly. “I understand.” He glanced at his wife.

  Amanda whispered tightly, “I panicked. I didn’t know what else to do. I was trying to protect us.”

  Her father’s stare hardened. “You should have talked to me first.” Stepping away from her, he roared, “I need everyone to lock the ground and first floor doors and windows. Now!”

  As Tenille and even Amanda, along with a few frightened faces from the kitchen, did as he asked, her father turned back to Marissa and pulled something free of his pocket, then pushed it into her hand. Her fingers closed around a key.

  “Remember Mack’s place in the mountains?” She nodded and he continued, “He’s in Europe for the summer and has given me access to the cabin whenever I want to use it.” He leaned closer. “No one else knows about it.”

  She nodded, feeling choked up. “Thanks Dad.”

  He wrapped her in his arms. “Just ... stay safe.” He pulled back, his eyes blurring. “And remember I love you, I’ve always loved you. Never forget that, okay.”

  “I won’t,” she whispered, too many emotions and feelings crowding through her head for her to make sense of anything but the parent who truly did love her. Maybe it’d been nothing more than his inability to communicate his feelings that had led them to this point, not an inability to love her?

  She heard a distant shout. The soldiers or police or whoever was outside were evidently aware they’d been seen and no longer used stealth. She turned from her father, pushed the key into her jeans pocket and dropped into a crouch beside Asher.

  He lay on the floor, unconscious in his dragon form, his clothes shredded beside him. She’d never before seen his scales the mottled silver-blue color he was now and she couldn’t help but touch him as he lay sprawled on the floor, with one huge wing stretched beneath him and the other retracted against his side.

  Her father stood behind her, his awe clear. “I’m seeing it but I don’t believe it.”

  Her stare roamed over the perfection of Asher in his dragon form. Somehow the fact there were bad people trying to get to them was background noise as she drank in his beauty. “Believe it, Dad. This man is amazing in every single way.”

  Her dad’s hand curled over her shoulder. “Then you’d better make sure none of our people get to him.”

  She nodded, her pulse quickening in relief as Asher groaned and gained consciousness. His big gold eyes blinking with intelligence, his muzzle lifted to touch her cheek in reassurance. She smiled as his hot, sulfuric breath fanned her skin. The scent wasn’t just normal to her now, it was welcome.

  Then as if aware of the danger closing in around them, Asher pushed to his webbed feet. Marissa didn’t need to communicate with him to know he wanted to get to higher ground. And although her head barely reached his shoulder, she didn’t have any hesitation in leading him up each flight of stairs to get to the highest level of the house.

  They’d barely reached the third floor when a window on the ground floor below them shattered, and someone screamed.

  Marissa froze. Asher had no such hesitation. She yelped as he grabbed hold of her between the jagged teeth of his jaw. She didn’t even feel a scratch as he carried her up the last set of stairs in just a couple of great bounds. The world tilted on its axis once again as he placed her on her feet in front of closed sliding doors.

  She unlocked the doors with a shaky hand. Sliding them open, she turned back to see him crouched low for her to scramble aboard. “Couldn’t you have given me that option the first time?” she asked.

  Shouting sounded from below. “Where do you think you’re going? Do you have a search warrant? You won’t find anything upstairs!”

  It was her father’s voice. Warning her and Asher to leave.

  Marissa climbed onto Asher’s scaly back. His scales flickered into black, a perfect night camouflage, and she clamped her arms around his neck and her thighs against his sides.

  In one fluid motion he gained his feet and in two great strides they were on the veranda outside. Leaping over the railing, his wings snapped out, taking advantage of the sea breeze that
lifted them high.

  She looked below. A handful of men in dark uniform were spread out beneath them. She squinted. They wore thick, fire-resistant uniforms and in the pool of light she saw one of them lift a crossbow.

  “Watch out!” she shouted.

  Asher dipped a wing and wheeled away, and the arrow flew past them. She had no doubt it’d been a tranquilizer dart, otherwise they would have used guns to bring them down permanently. Those men definitely weren’t the police and she was almost positive soldiers didn’t use crossbows or outfit themselves in fire retardant clothing.

  But she’d bet the Paranormal Detection Agency did.

  She blinked her eyes against the wind as Asher’s big wings rose and fell in great rhythmic beats. Within seconds her father’s house was a distant speck behind them. She only hoped her dad would be okay. She bit into her bottom lip. Of course he’d be okay, he wasn’t the one the PDA were after, Asher was all they cared about.

  Besides which, her father could always buy his way out of trouble or make use of the connections he’d maintained with people in high places.

  She expelled a breath and pointed ahead. “We need to go North.”

  Asher dipped his wing slightly to change direction, and she soon found herself relaxing, even enjoying the scenery of countless lights below where big buildings ceding to suburbs and then farmland.

  “This is amazing,” she called out, sitting up to take everything in fully. She laughed. “No one in a million years would believe I’ve flown over the city on a dragon!”

  He snorted, and she sucked in a waft of his sulfuric breath, feeling dizzy with emotion. “You know I haven’t done anything this exciting since I left my father’s house with Luke all those years ago.” She shook her head. “It makes me realize how dull my life has become.”

  His wings continued to beat through the air, but she felt his stare on her. Damn, he not only changed color like a chameleon, those big eyes of his also seemed to give him three-hundred-sixty degree vision and were able to pinpoint her anywhere.