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Ashe
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A STUPID WOMAN WOULD’VE believed Tobias’s insult. Ashe knew he hadn’t meant those words. He desired her as much as she wanted him. His longing couldn’t be faked thanks to the hard-on he’d sported. The dragon had been the smarter of the two, refusing to fuck her. That her willpower waned should’ve irritated her but hadn’t. She’d gotten a fantastic orgasm out of it and an insult that almost made her laugh out loud. Laughing would’ve been a snub in the face, and she’d somehow managed to hold it back.
Walking to the bathroom, she dropped her skirt and pushed her wet panties down, kicking them off and leaving them on the floor. As she drew the T-shirt up and over her head, she caught his scent. A delightful aroma and not because of his manly musk, there was something extra special in his smell.
She rolled her eyes at that romantic bullshit.
Tobias’s scent was different than any other man she’d been with. Not that that meant he was ‘the one’, or what some shifters called their mate. Something no one did any more. Either way he definitely wasn’t that, but his aroma was unique... sweeter, more vibrant, a tinge of ash, with a dash of cinnamon and whiskey.
Staring at herself in the mirror, she noted the flush on her cheeks and chest. That glow was thanks to Tobias. She’d done a lot of things during her fifteen hundred years, but she’d never dry-humped a man on his dining room table before.
Check that one off my bucket list.
Burying her face in the shirt, she inhaled his smell. She had no desire to wash his scent off her, so she skipped the shower and snuggled into the bed with the shirt on the pillow next to her.
“Tobias,” she whispered, loving the sound of his name on her lips.
A strong name for a strong dragon.
She hoped he dreamed of her as much as she probably would him.
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THE NEXT MORNING, A soft knock tapped on her door before being pushed open. A beautiful woman entered. Mid-twenties, hair as black as Tobias’s, and eyes the color of violet tanzanite stones. The curvy, and busty woman was clearly related to the Drakki family.
The woman wore stylish jeans with bling on the pockets and a red blouse that complimented her darker skin tone. A bunch of silver bracelets jangled on her wrists and long earrings dangled from her lobes. High-heeled knee-high boots insinuated a taller appearance than she actually was. Compared to her Drakki kin, this creature was diminutive and gave off a helpless air.
Ashe knew better than anyone that first impressions could be deceiving.
“The boys didn’t mention until this morning that we had a guest.” The stranger bustled toward Ashe.
“I wouldn’t exactly call myself a guest.”
“Nonsense. You’re staying here aren’t you?” The woman hugged Ashe as if they were long lost friends... or family. As Ashe patted the other woman’s back, she worried about her sanity. “I’m Victoria Drakki. Tobias’s cousin.”
Victoria? There was that name again, the one she’d and her computer geek, Wraith, had missed. How had they hidden Vic, as her brother called her, from the database Ashe and Wraith used? Their deep dive into the Drakki family had missed a few key points.
Victoria pulled out of the hug but continued to hold Ashe’s shoulders. “You’re beautiful. I knew Tobias would eventually find a beautiful woman to suffer his crankiness. But we both know his bark is worse than his bite. He’s such a teddy bear. Right?”
Ashe would never use the words ‘teddy bear’ to describe Tobias Drakki. “Um... what did they tell you about me?”
“Keg said you’re Tobias’s friend, but I read between the lines. Tobias doesn’t bring home women.”
Irrelevant info about other women, but Ashe caught the word ‘home’ in that sentence, which meant Victoria lived in the Drakki Estate. “You’re close with Tobias.”
“He’s like another brother to me. I’m Josiah’s sister. I was six months old when our parents died.” Her bottom lip quivered and for one terrible moment, Ashe feared the woman would cry. “Josiah and I grew up with him and Hitchcock.”
In other words, she was a weakness and she volunteered this information like she didn’t have a clue of the danger she lived in. The woman was either naïve or they’d somehow safeguarded her from the real world.
“Come to town with me. It’s a quaint city, unique with its openly public supernatural residents and has the friendliest people you’ll ever meet.” Victoria grabbed Ashe’s hand and squeezed, her eyes begging Ashe to join her. “I know if you experience it, you’ll fall in love with our city and its residents and you’ll never want to leave. I just know you’ll make Tobias the best wife and with this hair of yours,” she threaded her fingers through Ashe’s hair and, unused to being touched, Ashe flinched before she could stop herself, “you’ll make beautiful babies. All our black hair is so drab and boring, don’t you think? Of course, you do, they’d be your kids too.”
Oh, dear gods, the woman rambled too damn much. And Ashe barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes at that ridiculous fantasy.
“Sure.” Interested in all aspects of Black Hollow, Ashe would happily join Victoria. Any information she gained from the girl would help her when she killed the Drakki clan. Besides, if she gained the girl’s trust she could become an unwilling ally.
Like a schoolgirl Victoria clapped her hands together and gave a little squeal of delight. “Do you mind if we walk?”
“Not at all.”
A few guys Ashe had never seen before elevated their eyebrows at them when Ashe brazenly walked out of the house beside Victoria. None of them lifted a finger to stop their departure, and didn’t issue any verbal misgivings either, which told her a lot about the dynamics of the family.
Tobias was in charge, but Victoria was spoiled and did as she pleased.
Not on my watch she wouldn’t.
Ashe had the mindset to kidnap the woman and ransom her for the picture. In the process she’d gag her because she never stopped babbling. She chatted about some Yeti named Saroj that owned the ice cream parlor, and something about the unfairness of him not being allowed to participate in the local carwash because he stopped up the drain with his hair. Victoria was upset for the injustice perpetrated against him.
“As kids we had a dog named Peanuts. Tobias named him.” Ashe smirked at the name. Victoria didn’t seem to notice but kept talking. “Tobias loved that dog and they did everything together. Played fetch. They cuddled on the sofa, in the bed, and he bathed Peanuts every week. Peanuts even followed him to school every day and waited patiently at the door for him.” Victoria wore a little grin on her face and had that faraway look in her eyes. “Tobias cried and cried when Peanuts died.”
Victoria turned to peer at Ashe, her eyes wide and watery. Hopefully Ashe maintained a blank expression. Instead of saying something mind-blowing like Ashe expected her to do, Victoria shifted into another subject. “He kissed his first girl in kindergarten.” Victoria laughed. “His first love was Moira Ragland. They thought she was pregnant when—oh look, there’s Meddie and Pietr.” The woman waved and called out to them. “Pietr is one of ours.”
Ashe knew all about the family details—except for Victoria. Sweet lizard goo that miss bothered Asherah.
Pietr was a Drakki family member, but there’d either been a falling out and he didn’t participate in the family business or he’d chosen to walk away and create his own startup—Fireside Grille, a local restaurant.
“Hey, cousin,” Pietr hugged Victoria. “Who’s your friend?” He gave Ashe a once over.
Ashe made no attempt to respond since Victoria seemed happy to do all the introductions. “Tobias’s girl. Isn’t she perfect for him?”
Pietr elevated an eyebrow as if surprised by that misinformation.
“Hi, I’m Meddie.” The Medusa woman extended her hand, the multitude of snakes swerving and hissing about her head felt like a greeting also.
“Nice to meet you.” Ashe nodded at her, ignoring the other woman’s handshake.
Meddie rubbed her hand on her pants in a self-conscious manner. “If you need me to fix your hair for Tobias and Hitchcock’s soiree come with Victoria Friday morning and I’ll fix you up.”
“She owns Medusa’s Locks and does amazing things with hair.” Victoria ran her fingers through hers as if to demonstrate Medusa’s talent.
“Okay.” Ashe knew she was being bitchy, but she wasn’t here to like the residents, the town, or anything for that matter. Her job required people to die. Thanks to Tobias the entire family had to die. Liking anyone complicated her life and made killing them difficult.
“If Tobias hasn’t told you yet, Seraphine will have the perfect dress for you.” Meddie sent her an awkward smile, still obviously trying to be nice despite Ashe’s rudeness.
Ashe ignored the pleasantries as she made note of the surveillance cameras about the town, memorizing their placement so she could avoid the video feed as much as possible so there’d be less photos of herself to delete. If one good picture wasn’t snapped up by the computer app, she’d have to nuke the town, killing everyone in it, or change her appearance with a spell. That might be the easiest thing to do because slaughtering children really went against her morals. And there were a lot of children walking about. One held a small cauldron in her hand with smoke boiling out, along with the croak of a frog and the hiss of snakes.
Pietr watched her with a critical eye. She guessed that dragon was more like Tobias and his gang, pinpointing the finer details about people unlike than the naïve girl at her side.
She smiled at him. “It’s such a pleasure meeting you both.”
There was no pleasure in it, but... hint, hint, Victoria, let’s move this along before I have to kill them too.
She wasn’t in the habit of dropping innocents and Pietr was guiltless. Most supernaturals had some dirt on them, but not all. More than once she’d turned down contracts that involved the blood of an innocent. The one time someone contracted a hit on a child, she’d taken the money, but she’d also put that motherfucker in a shallow grave instead.
They walked past Seraphine’s Disguise and Ashe wondered what disguise Seraphine wore. No way that woman was really a petite blonde. Across the street sat the local Drakki Diamond store. Next to Seraphine’s was Black Widow Silks, which was run by an Arachne. Those creatures gave her the heebie-jeebies, but she sure would love some fancy lingerie to wear under the fancy dress Seraphine gave her.
“We should stop here so you can meet Seraphine and have her help pick out the right dress for you on Friday.” Victoria turned toward the door.
“Already met her.” Ashe kept walking. “She came by yesterday to hook me up.”
Victoria gave her a glowing smile. “Isn’t she wonderful? She always finds the perfect outfit for every occasion.”
Ashe suspected Victoria loved everyone. She had that type of annoying personality.
They kept walking as they chatted. Up next was the pet store and Rainbow Savings and Trust across the street from it.
“There’s Meddie’s shop.” Victoria pointed at the storefront across the street on the corner. “You must go with me Friday morning.” The dragon clasped her hands together as if praying Ashe would accept the offer.
“Seraphine suggested I leave it down.”
Victoria pouted, but for only a moment, and at least five men and a woman stopped to gape at her pucker.
Figures half the residents would be in love with the town nitwit.
That’s when Ashe noticed the tail they’d picked up. He stood across the street from them not attempting to hide his presence. Not a smile on his face, but a gleam shined in his eyes. She’d learned millennia ago that signaled trouble.
Victoria of course noticed nothing out of the ordinary. The dragon’s failure to note anything of importance bothered Ashe. Every woman should be aware of their surroundings. That was basic survival skills.
“Let’s go down this way to the candy store first.” The dragon motioned to the left. “I want to pick up some sweets for Hitchcock.” Victoria leaned toward Ashe and confessed, “He has a terrible sweet tooth.”
She followed Victoria, tuning out her chatter as they walked. Once they reached the candy store, Victoria was blessedly distracted with the salesman, Alizon, a witch if Ashe wasn’t mistaken. Ashe scurried outside to catch the stalker leaning against the door of the candy store. He was a wolf-shifter which meant he had a nose for tracking. Now that he had Victoria’s scent, he’d be able to find her anywhere.
Not on my watch, fucktard.
“Follow me and I’ll make sure you get the girl,” she said as she kept walking.
His eyebrows shot upward, but like a dutiful boy he tracked her steps along the sidewalk. They passed the fire station and went around to the back of the building to a grassy area. The moment they were alone, she attacked him.
A kick to the side of his knee dropped him. Another strike to his chest knocked the air from his lungs and left him doubled over. The front kick to his chin knocked him out.
Never knew what hit him.
She patted him down and used the zip ties in his back pocket to restrain his hands and feet together, so he couldn’t run. Left up to her, she’d kill him, but reminding Tobias how stupid it was to let his cousin walk the streets of Black Hollow unprotected sounded like a better idea.
After filching his knife, she tucked it into her ankle boots. The gun she found on him was a Beretta Nano, which was a decent weapon if you hunted a human. It would stop just about anything but a pissed off supernatural creature.
She ejected the clip, counted the rounds before popping it back in and chambering a bullet. As she tucked the gun into the waist of her jeans at her low back she retraced her footsteps, while tugging her shirt over the firearm to hide it from others.
As suspected, Victoria didn’t miss her.