Healed by the Dragon: Boxed Set (Parts #1-4) Page 3

  His inner beast was correct, not that Finn would admit as much. I’m more worried about her settling in. She doesn’t do well with strangers.

  Faye is friendly and kind. Arabella will be fine.

  Before he could voice any more of his concerns, his cousin, Faye, opened the door. Her voice was overly innocent. “Aye, cousin? Can I help you?”

  “Why are you asking me that? Just let me in.”

  Faye smiled. “You said you’d be here in another hour. Since you’re early, I’m just concerned something is going on and needs my attention. I am a Protector, after all.”

  Finn growled. “Stop your games, cousin. Move aside and let me in.”

  “Someone’s grumpy.” Faye laughed.

  Rather than put up with his cousin’s games, Finn pushed past her and walked into the living area. Scanning the room, Arabella was standing off to the side with her arms crossed over her chest. Careful not to stare at her plumped up breasts, he smiled and dusted off his charm. “Why, lovely Arabella, you’re looking radiant as always.”

  His dragon snorted. She won’t like that.

  Arabella raised an eyebrow. “Still working on that list, Finlay? You should save yourself some time and toss it away.”

  Told you.

  Ignoring his beast, Finn took two steps toward Arabella. When she didn’t move away, it pumped up his ego. “And miss out on your gleeful responses? Never.”

  With a sigh, Arabella said, “Why are you here and what do you want?”

  Finn took another step toward the lass, never breaking eye contact. “I’m here for you, Arabella.”

  Arabella’s eyes widened a fraction. She quickly went back to a neutral expression, but it was too late. Her response gave him the courage to step even closer and lower his voice. “For the next two hours, you can do whatever you like with me.”

  He could hear her heart rate kick up. Never taking his gaze from hers, he whispered, “So, what would you like to do, Arabella?”

  He waited to see if he’d pushed too far. But as he’d expected, she straightened her shoulders and stood tall. “I would like for you to leave so Faye can answer my questions.”

  “I can do that myself, lass.”

  She jabbed a finger into his chest and he resisted the urge to capture her hand in his. “You would spend half the time flirting, which just wastes my time. I’m sure the clan could use you elsewhere.”

  Faye’s voice came from behind him. “Aye, cousin. You always go on about a never-ending list of tasks. You could tackle some of those.”

  Turning, he shot his cousin a warning glance. “Don’t you have training to do? Last time I checked, you were in charge of a wing of Protectors.”

  Faye nodded. “Yes, but you’re early. I can keep Arabella company for another half hour. You could settle a dispute or two during that time.”

  Finn steeled his voice and ordered, “I came early for a reason. Shay had some trouble with one of the other lads. You need to talk with him and work on nipping his temper.”

  His cousin remained silent for a few seconds out of pure spite before she nodded. “Right, then I’ll go take care of that now.” Faye looked to Arabella. “There’s a list of phone numbers on your fridge, including mine. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call.”

  Arabella answered, “I’d much rather go with you and watch you train. I’m out of practice and could use the refresher.”

  Finn gave a minuscule shake of his head.

  Faye smiled. “Sorry, Arabella. As much as I wish I could, not even I can disobey my clan leader without consequences. Finn wants some time alone with you, so you may as well get it over with.”

  Finn had barely growled, “Faye,” before his cousin laughed and quickly exited the door.

  Taking a deep breath, he turned toward Arabella. Rather than scared, she looked pissed off. “Now, now, Arabella. Is spending time with me really that awful?”

  Glaring, she pushed against his chest. He ignored the heat that flared at her touch and focused on her words. “Why are you so keen to have me alone? If you think to charm me and make me one of your conquests, it’s not going to happen.”

  Anger rushed through his body and he narrowed his eyes. “For someone who doesn’t like people judging her, you’re being bloody judgmental.”

  She pushed against his chest again. “I saw how you acted while at Stonefire, dancing and whispering into the females’ ears. You had them eating out of your hand and the only reason a male does that is to get into someone’s bed.”

  Trapping her hand against his chest, he leaned down. Not even her intake of breath could distract him from the anger raging through his body. “Think about it. Being all broody and bastard-like would’ve driven all of your clan away and then no one would’ve wanted to foster here. Charming a few lasses is worth it if it means I can further cement the alliance with Stonefire.”

  Arabella blinked. “You did it for the alliance?”

  “Aye, I did. And I would do much more. But since you trust my cousin more than me, though who the fuck knows why, you can ask her how many hearts I’ve broken here. Maybe that will erase your judgmental bullshit.”

  As they stared in silence, Finn noticed the delicate, warm hand in his. Not only that, a faint smell of vanilla filled his nose.

  His dragon growled. She smells nice. And she’s warm. I want her.

  Thankfully, Arabella replied faster than his inner beast. “Tell me yourself. How many, Finn?”

  He didn’t hesitate. “One, when I was a lad of eighteen.” Her brows furrowed. Releasing her hand, he stepped back a few paces. “Believe it or not, I don’t care, Arabella MacLeod. But I’ll tell you this—if you truly wish to train and regain the skills you lost over the last decade, then I will be your trainer.”

  “But—”

  “No. Faye would never admit it, but she has a lot on her plate. She’s practically reinventing how my Protectors are trained. She would never refuse you, but as her clan leader, I’m going to forbid it. If you want to train, you have to deal with me.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I need an answer and I need it now. What do you want, Arabella? This is your one chance to ask for it.”

  Chapter Four

  Arabella clenched her hands at her side. “I’ve been here half a day and you’re tossing ultimatums? Who the hell do you think you are?”

  “Clan leader.”

  His matter-of-fact tone only made her blood hotter. “Clan leaders who rule through fear and ultimatums don’t last long, Finlay Stewart.”

  Finn cocked an eyebrow. “So you know how I run my clan, now, aye?’

  “I’d imagine this is your true self. Even if you’ve been hiding, the clan will find out soon enough.”

  Anger flashed in Finn’s eyes, but Arabella wasn’t afraid. If she didn’t stand up to the Scot, he would feel entitled to boss her around the entire six months and she wasn’t having it.

  The dragonman moved toward her, until he was less than a foot apart. She swore she could feel the heat of his body.

  Only his voice distracted her. “If you think I’m going to tiptoe around you and be gentle, acquiescing to your every whim because of a few scars, then let me be clear: it’s not going to happen. You’re stubborn, Arabella MacLeod, but I’m even more so. You train with me or with no one because I can’t risk something going wrong. Or, in the worst case scenario, someone hurts you to get back at me.”

  She frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  He stepped closer, and she stepped back only to come up against a wall. As he put an arm on either side of her head, his breath tickled her cheek. His heat and scent surrounded her, but before she could think too hard on why it made her feel safe rather than cause a panic, Finn whispered, “A section of the clan wants to oust me. They’ve tried everything from fabricating a scandal to fucking false claims of me impregnating every single female in the clan to ensure my place. Let’s just say they’re not happy about an English dragon-shifter living on our lands
. If I’m not careful, they’ll hurt you, Arabella. I couldn’t live with myself if that happened.”

  Searching his amber eyes, she saw only truth. “Why wouldn’t you just tell me this instead of pulling dominant alpha dragon bullshit and trying to order me around? Dancing around the truth and subtle moves aren’t my forte, Finn. Tell me straight and I’m more apt to believe you.”

  He leaned a fraction closer. With her anger fading, she could no longer ignore his heat or masculine scent filling her nose.

  Her dragon whispered, He won’t hurt you. Kiss him.

  I—no. I don’t want to kiss him.

  Liar.

  Finn tilted his head to whisper into her ear, “I see your flashing dragon eyes, Arabella. Tell me what she’s saying.”

  His neck was now just in front of her lips. Thanks to her supersensitive dragon-shifter hearing, she heard Finn’s heart beating double-time.

  She couldn’t tell if it was all a game or if he really was interested in her.

  Curling her fingers against the wall, she leaned a fraction more toward him. The scent of pure male mixed with wind and peat caressed her senses. She liked the way he smelled.

  No. I can’t do this.

  Before her dragon could answer, Finn pulled away. The loss of his heat made her shiver.

  As if the last few minutes never happened, Finn raised an eyebrow. “You may not want to discuss your dragon with me, but you will, Arabella. One day, I will know all of your secrets.”

  She cleared her throat. “And how, exactly, do you know that? Do you have a crystal ball you use to tell the future?”

  His look grew heated. “No, but I don’t give up easily on people and I have no plans to give up on you.”

  Blinking, Arabella tried to think of what to say. He surely couldn’t mean he was interested in her. They barely knew each other.

  Yet at the same time, his single-minded gaze was intense and a little unnerving. In this moment, he only saw her.

  Then Finn put out a hand and wiggled his fingers. “So, how about a little training? I want you prepared in case Duncan and his crowd think to target you.”

  “Who is Duncan?”

  “My main rival.” He stretched his hand out a little further. “What will it be? If nothing else, think of it as a chance to kick my arse. That should make you happy.”

  Smiling at the image of kicking Finn in the balls, she placed her hand in his. “You finally have something I can’t resist.”

  His grip tightened on her hand and a little jolt rushed down her arms. Somehow, she focused on his question. “Oh, aye? And what’s that, lass?”

  “The opportunity to send you to your knees.”

  ~~~

  At Arabella’s grin, Finn felt like he’d been punched in the gut. Her whole face lit up with a smile. Add the amusement and a little too much glee in her eyes, and she was beautiful.

  His dragon huffed. You should have kissed her. I don’t like waiting.

  But anticipation is part of the game.

  I’m a dragon. I don’t care about anticipation. I want to kiss Arabella and when she is ready, I also want to fuck her.

  Pushing aside his beast’s pulsing desire, he focused back on Arabella and grinned. “I think I’ll have you on your back before that happens, lass.”

  He waited to see if she would bolt, withdraw, or who the hell knew what else at the innuendo. But his lass merely raised an eyebrow. “I take that as a challenge, and you should know that MacLeods take their challenges very seriously.”

  Tugging her hand, he moved toward the door. Arabella caught up to him and he glanced down at her. “Then I look forward to the challenge. I survived three days of hell to be clan leader, but maybe one wee lass has the power to send me to my knees in the end.”

  “I’m much more than a ‘wee lass’. Before my life changed all those years ago, I had planned to be clan leader.”

  Unlocking the door, he glanced at her. When he didn’t answer straightaway, her brows drew together. “What? You don’t believe me?”

  “Oh, I believe you.” He winked. “I’m imagining you kicking Bram’s arse and taking over.”

  In the ensuing silence, Finn opened the door before he finally said, “Enough talk. I want to see if you can walk the walk. Let’s go. I may even give you a tour on the way, if you’re nice to me.”

  They exited the house. After shutting the door, they headed in the direction of the nearby loch. He squeezed Ara’s delicate female hand in his. When she didn’t try to pull away, it pumped up his ego.

  His dragon was hovering on the edge of his mind, but his inner beast’s desire to do much more than hold the lass’s hand was slowly filtering out. Stop it, dragon. I can’t train Ara with a hard cock.

  Then do as I wish. Kiss her.

  Not now, you ruddy beast.

  Using every bit of alpha dominance he possessed, Finn reinforced the walls between him and his dragon.

  Satisfied his beast was contained for the moment, he looked around. The area was deserted, which wasn’t unusual given the time of day. He would take advantage of their isolation to share a bit of his clan with Arabella. After all, he wanted her to grow to love Lochguard as much as he did. Revealing a bit of the magic might help to do that.

  Pointing to the loch in the distance, he upped his nonchalant charm. “You probably saw Loch Naver on your way in. While the humans see it merely as a body of water, we have legends about that loch here.”

  Looking up at him, she tilted her head. “Well? Are you going to tell me or do I need to ask super nicely?”

  “Just making sure I had your attention, lass, because it’s quite a tale.”

  “It better live up to the hype, Finn.”

  Grinning, he tugged her a little closer to his side and leaned his head down to hers. “See the crumbling broch on our side of the lake?”

  “You mean the half-destroyed tower-looking stone structure?”

  “That’s the one. Well, they say the Green Lady used to live there. She was a protective spirit who drew her powers from the loch. Some say she’s the reason Clan Lochguard managed to keep their land when the Sutherlands cleared these parts of tenants in the 1800s to raise sheep.”

  Arabella gave him a skeptical look. “A magical spirit lady protected your clan? You do realize you’re a dragon-shifter, right? And that, I don’t know, it’s more likely a group of dragons chased away the human landowners?”

  “Where’s the mystery in that? I like to think the Green Lady still resides in that broch, waiting to help the clan whenever we truly need it again. In fact, whenever a clan member turns eighteen, they visit it at night to experience the magic. I think you should try it. Maybe after you walk inside and feel the strange energy, you’ll be a little less skeptical.”

  “Maybe, though I doubt it. I like facts more than feelings.”

  “I’ll work on changing your mind, lass, just wait and see.” Finn tugged Arabella’s hand. “Come. As much as I like to tell stories, I only have about an hour left before my next appointment. If you want to train, we need to hurry.”

  ~~~

  Arabella gave one last look at the crumbling tower near the lake before following Finn’s lead. While she didn’t believe in magic or spirits, she was curious to see the inside of the structure. The ‘magic’ of the place could probably be explained with a few cleverly hidden lights or speakers. She’d love to see Finn’s face when she disproved his tale.

  Blinking, she nearly missed a step. Her plan to steer clear of the Lochguard leader was not going well. While she had no choice but to allow him to train her, Arabella would find other ways to occupy her time. She still had programming work to do, for one. Also, she wanted to find out more information about the so-called rift inside Lochguard. While the Scottish dragon-shifter clan was similar to her own, it wasn’t quite the same. She needed to figure out her boundaries.

  As they walked, Finn would occasionally point out a few places of interest, such as his cottage, the main hall, a
nd the central marketplace, but for the rest of the time, he remained silent. Glancing over to steal a peek, Finn looked deep in thought. Given his tendency to tease and banter, she sometimes forgot about the weight he carried as clan leader.

  Then a dragon landed less than fifty feet away, catching her attention. The tall beast’s purple hide glinted in the small streams of sunlight shining through the broken clouds in the sky.

  As the dragon beat her wings to steady herself as her feet touched the ground, a twinge of longing squeezed Arabella’s heart. In dragon form, Arabella’s hide was nearly the same shade of purple.

  More than anything, she wished to have the same sense of ease and familiarity as the purple dragon in the landing area. Yet despite her best efforts, Arabella had yet to shift of her own free will.

  Her dragon’s voice was gentle. I am here. When you are ready, let me know. I will help.

  Much like in the past, Arabella remained silent rather than reply. Her inner beast was patient and ever since Arabella had ventured outside her cottage on her own a year ago, she hadn’t forced Arabella to shift into a dragon. But a year without shifting would soon take its toll on her beast. The day was coming when she would shift whether she wanted it or not.

  Tugging her arm, Finn pulled them behind a wall of rock, which blocked out the dragon landing area.

  While wondering if he’d been watching her closely or not, the dragonman simply released her hand and took a few steps back. “Come at me, Arabella, and attack me with your best moves. I need to see what I’m working with.”

  Grateful Finn didn’t bring up her gawking at the other dragon, she pushed her concerns about shifting aside. “I don’t have any ‘moves’ as you put it. I spent a decade in near-isolation inside my cottage. I need to start at the beginning.”

  “I doubt that. I’ll find a way to test you, though.”

  As the corner of Finn’s mouth ticked up, she glared. “If you think to cop a feel to rile me up, I won’t stop until I kick you in the balls, Finlay Stewart. Consider that your only warning.”