Burning Desire Read online

  The whisky glass slipped from her numb fingers to shatter on the floor. Her secret that was never supposed to leave the family had been bandied about all over Cork. Shara felt sick.

  But she was also furious.

  “You gave your word to Father,” she told Farrell. “You betrayed him, me, and the entire family.”

  Farrell roughly grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the chair yelling, “He should’ve let me kill you!”

  Whatever else he was going to say was cut off when Balladyn slammed a fist into his jaw. Farrell crashed to the ground, pulling her with him since he still had ahold of her arm.

  Balladyn gently pulled her up and sat her in the chair. Then he turned back to Farrell. “As Shara said, you’ve betrayed your family. That is unforgiveable for a Dark.”

  Farrell was holding his jaw as he leaned up on one elbow, blood seeping from his busted lip. “It’s accepted when it’s deserved.”

  “And you thinking you could capture a Dragon King all by yourself?”

  At that, Farrell climbed to his feet. “I will succeed. I was gaining ground.”

  “By having drinks with him?”

  “Shara was seducing him.”

  She wanted to kick Farrell in the balls. Didn’t he ever know when to keep his mouth shut?

  Balladyn’s gaze slowly turned to her. There was murder in his eyes—for her.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “You know this Dragon King?” Balladyn asked in a frosty tone that threatened to suck all of Shara’s courage from her.

  She refused to cower to Balladyn. He could kill her with one blast of magic. How could she have even considered him her salvation?

  “Yes,” she answered.

  Balladyn faced her, his red gaze promising pain for her omission. He lowered his chin, his lips pulled back in a vicious sneer. “Who is he?”

  Shara parted her lips, her mind rushing with options when Farrell chuckled loudly. Balladyn’s gaze slid to him, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

  Farrell leaned on the bar behind Shara’s chair grinning like a cat that had gotten into the cream. “The bitch knows to keep her mouth shut. The Dragon King is ours to take.”

  For once Shara was grateful for Farrell’s arrogance and brazenness. Everyone’s gaze in the pub was on Balladyn. He grabbed Farrell and jerked him back, only to slam him against the bar.

  Magic swirled around Balladyn as he gathered it in one of his hands. “I think it’s time you and I came to an understanding, Farrell. My understanding.”

  Shara jumped when the first round of magic hit Farrell in the stomach. He screamed, his eyes squeezed shut against the pain. A few brave Dark snuck out of the pub and made a run for it while others remained transfixed with either grins or masks of fear as they watched Balladyn.

  Shara used the opportunity to slide off the bar stool and slowly move away. Any moment now, Balladyn’s men would come into the pub, and she wanted to be long gone by then.

  She reached the end of the bar without Balladyn noticing her. Another two steps and she turned the corner out of his sight. She didn’t wait another second to teleport out of the pub.

  Shara appeared on the docks. She cringed when she was immediately soaked in the pouring rain. A glance around showed she was thankfully alone. She wrapped her arms around herself and was about to disappear again when she realized she had nowhere to go.

  Wherever she went, Balladyn or someone from her family would find her. She just wanted a few minutes to herself to think without worrying about who was going to do her harm.

  And then she remembered there was one place she could go, one place where she felt safe and secure.

  * * *

  Kiril was irritated that his plan to confront Farrell in the pub had come to a screeching halt. He wouldn’t mind confronting Balladyn as well, but he wasn’t the reckless kind to go busting into the building and face all those Dark alone.

  No, that was something Rhys would do.

  Kiril heard the crackle of thunder just before the skies opened up and drenched everything in sight. Dark came rushing out of an Doras as if something were coming for them. A heartbeat later, Kiril heard the screams within.

  It was time to reevaluate his plan. Facing Farrell or Balladyn was one thing, but if he walked into the pub with both of them together then they would join forces against him. Kiril refused to be locked away in any type of Dark prison. He wouldn’t let it happen, which meant he had to go about things differently.

  “It’s time to leave,” Phelan’s voice reached him from behind.

  Kiril didn’t bother to turn around. “Because Balladyn is in there.”

  “Because you are many things, Kiril, but no’ a fool. Balladyn came to teach Farrell a lesson. That’s who is screaming.”

  “Good. I never liked that arse anyway. By the way, how did you know it was Shara with Balladyn? You’ve never seen her.”

  “I’m smart like that,” came the cocky reply.

  “So she’s with Balladyn.” The idea still rankled him, like rubbing salt in a wound.

  “Forget her. If you try to get to her, you’ll only end up in one of their dungeons.”

  “No’ going to happen.”

  “Good. Now get out of here. I’m soaked and in need of something besides the nasty Irish whisky.”

  Kiril waited a few more moments in the rain, hoping to catch a glimpse of Shara. He just needed to know that she was all right. When that didn’t happen, he turned on his heel and strode to his car.

  It had taken all day to find the address of Shara’s home, but the result had been exactly what he wanted. However, the final bit of his plans dissolved like sugar in the rain. He was ready for a glass of Dreagan whisky and another night in dragon form in the cellar when he drove through the gates of his estate.

  More Dark were watching the house, which meant he would have to take time tomorrow to lose them in the streets of Cork once more, but he liked the challenge. As well as making them look stupid.

  He walked into the house and immediately recognized that he wasn’t alone. Shara’s scent was strong, filling him with need so overwhelming he was drowning in it.

  Kiril tossed his keys on the table and quietly closed the door. He walked to the left and reached in the dark to wrap his hands around her throat. She gasped and grabbed his arm, her shoes dropping from her fingers as he dragged her into the entryway.

  “I thought you’d found a new man. Was Balladyn lacking in bed somehow?”

  She opened her mouth, but he squeezed her throat to keep her from talking. Her midnight hair hung in damp strands around her with some stuck to the side of her face. The black dress clung to her body as water beaded along her skin.

  “I doona want to hear anything you have to say,” he ground out. “I held out hope that you were something other than you are, but you gave me all the answers I needed tonight.”

  Her eyes silently beseeched him to listen to her, but Kiril was beyond that. He was angry—at himself and her—for falling for her. He had been prepared to take her to Dreagan with him, and damn whatever consequences followed.

  Yet she’d betrayed his trust, disdained his offering.

  Scorned his affections.

  The fact that he’d dared to help a Dark was something that would remain with him for all eternity. Shara had reminded him that none could be trusted, that the Dark were evil to their very core.

  Some were just better at hiding it than others.

  “Kiril,” she squeaked.

  He squeezed harder, but dammit, he found he couldn’t harm her more than that. No matter how much he wanted to hit something, it wouldn’t be Shara.

  “Rhi,” she wheezed.

  Kiril instantly loosened his grip, his anger dissipating. “What about Rhi?”

  Shara coughed and sucked in huge breaths, but she held his gaze. “I saw her,” she whispered.

  He briefly closed his eyes before he released Shara and turned his back to her. Looking at her hurt too much. He reme
mbered the taste of her lips, the feel of her smooth skin, the heat of her sex clamping around his cock.

  Why couldn’t he forget her as he had every other woman that he’d had sex with? The simple truth was that Shara was different from any other female across all time. Her fake innocence and passion had caught him more securely than any kind of trap.

  “Rhi. Where is she?” he demanded.

  “Balladyn has her in his fortress.”

  “How do I get there?”

  There was a pause. “I don’t think you can.”

  Kiril should have known she would try some kind of trick. He laughed hoarsely. “Of course no’.”

  “You don’t understand,” she said hurriedly.

  How he had missed the sound of her sweet Irish accent. Kiril took a step away from her, but turned to face her. “Explain it.”

  “I went through a Fae door in my family’s garden. Balladyn’s fortress is hidden. There is another doorway near the pub, but it’s heavily guarded in Balladyn’s compound. I don’t know of any other way to reach it.”

  “Then take me through the doorway that you do know.”

  “Are you insane?” she asked, her voice rising. “If I bring you to my family’s home, they’ll try to take you captive.”

  “The operative word there is try, sweetheart.”

  “Kiril, please.”

  He braced himself as she came closer. She licked her lips, her arms wrapped around her middle. Her back was hunched a little and she looked frightened. Good. She should be afraid of him after what she had done. It was all a ruse on his part though. As cunning as she was, she would most likely discover very soon that he wouldn’t—couldn’t—hurt her.

  “Every Dark is going to be hunting you by morning. If Farrell survives Balladyn’s attack, then he will come here himself. You must leave.”

  He raised a brow. “If you think I’m going to let a Dark—any Dark—take me as a prisoner, then you doona know me at all.”

  “I know you,” she said softly. “I know you’re an honorable male who is trying to save your friend. Balladyn brought me to her cell. I saw the form that was Rhi. She’s … broken, Kiril. No Light can survive what the Dark do to them. Think of yourself and the other Dragon Kings and return to Scotland.”

  “I’ll leave soon enough, but no’ without Rhi.”

  “You’ll never get to her,” Shara said with a small shake of her head.

  Kiril advanced on her, making her backpedal quickly. “Do you forget who you’re talking to, Dark? I’m a Dragon King. I’ve been alive since the dawn of time. We were the ones who won the Fae Wars. We’ve been the ones protecting this realm. We’re the biggest badasses around. Perhaps the Dark need reminding of that fact.”

  “I know.”

  “Nay. You doona. Tell me, when is the last time you saw a King in dragon form?”

  She swallowed loudly and whispered, “Never.”

  “Shall I show you?”

  “You do and they’ll come for you in an instant.” She straightened her spine and lifted her chin. “Be angry at me, but think. You want to hurt me, then do it, but don’t be foolish.”

  Her words helped to cool his growing ire. There was something about Shara that made him protective, obsessive even. Yet, with a touch or a word she could calm him—or send his desires into overdrive.

  She dropped her arms to her sides. “Balladyn has an entire army at his disposal. They’re waiting at his fortress for when he brings you. He didn’t tell me specifics, but … he’s put things in place to ensure that the next Dragon King he captures doesn’t escape.”

  “How many men does he have?”

  “Hundreds. Thousands,” she said with a shrug. “I only got a glimpse. I didn’t have time to count.”

  He walked around her to the front room and poured himself a glass of Dreagan whisky. Kiril didn’t have to look to know that Shara followed him into the room, though she only stood at the doorway.

  “Why are you telling me this?” he asked.

  “What Balladyn is doing to Rhi … it’s not right. No one should have to suffer that way.”

  “And yet you tell me that I should leave her.”

  “Because she’s lost to everyone.”

  “She’s a friend. We doona leave friends behind no matter what.”

  “Rhi is very lucky then.”

  Kiril turned to face Shara. “So, what sort of trap have you set for me?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Shara couldn’t believe the difference in Kiril. He wasn’t the same charming man as before. The undercurrent of danger was still there, but a deadly thread had been added to it. It saddened her, but at the same time she couldn’t blame him. She was the enemy. He thought she had deceived him, and in some ways she had.

  “I don’t know of a trap.”

  His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m supposed to believe you?”

  “Believe what you want. I came to tell you about Rhi because … well, I don’t really know why. If you happen to find your way to Balladyn’s compound, he will capture you.”

  “And you’ll be standing beside him, I suppose? Do you often jump from one man’s bed to another?”

  His words stung so badly that she wanted to lash out verbally and physically. It was the absence of his smile and smooth seduction that froze her, keeping her immobile as her heart hammered against her ribs.

  “No,” she answered simply when she finally found her voice. “Regardless of what you think, I didn’t share Balladyn’s bed. He wanted me there, and for a short period I considered him as a means to get away from my family.”

  “I suppose that’s why he attacked Farrell?” Kiril asked casually before taking a drink of the whisky.

  She watched the deep gold liquid tilt in the glass before flowing past his lips. Her gaze traveled to his throat to see him swallow. She lifted her gaze to find him watching her coolly.

  Shara had known coming to him was going to be a mistake. She couldn’t think straight around him. He was purely male, utterly sexual. And for one brief moment in time, he had been hers.

  Everything she had done after that had pushed him away. Fear of being without her family, and worry of trying to fit in with the Dragon Kings had stopped any thoughts of a future with Kiril.

  Knowing what she did now, she would change every decision she had made. Yet there was no going back. She had put herself in this predicament, and she would get herself out of it. Somehow.

  “He attacked Farrell because Farrell was going after you.”

  Kiril lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I can see that. Balladyn doesna want his position threatened by anyone, least of all by one of the most powerful families in the Dark world. It still doesna explain why you’re here. You could’ve left me a message about Rhi. By the fact your clothes are no longer soaked, you had to have waited here quite awhile for me.”

  “I did,” she admitted. “I left the pub right after Farrell told Balladyn that I knew you.”

  Kiril raised his glass. “Ah. So you deceived the great Balladyn as well. You’re running out of men, Shara.”

  “I didn’t tell him about you because I knew he would force me to help him get to you.”

  Kiril threw his glass against the wall, his thunderous expression darkening his face as the crystal shattered. “No one can make you do anything you doona want to do! Quit using that as an excuse!”

  “Fine!” she shouted in return. “I’ll tell you the truth. I flirted with him because I thought he could be my way out from beneath my family. I have to marry anyway, and I knew Balladyn was the only one my father couldn’t say no to. I was using him. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

  “Finally, the truth.”

  Shara slapped her hands against her legs and blew out a frustrated breath. “You want more truth? I came here to see you one last time. Are you satisfied, damn you?”

  She gasped as he was suddenly before her, slamming her against the wall with her hands held over her head by one of his a
nd his hard body covering hers. His face was breaths from hers, the anger gone from his gaze, replaced with desire.

  “Say it again,” he whispered savagely.

  Her breaths were coming faster, her chest rising erratically. But she had never felt such passion burning through her veins. “I wanted to see you.”

  He searched her gaze, and as always with Kiril, she found herself opening to him. There was nothing she could hide from him, nothing she wanted to hide from him.

  His head lowered, and when he paused she lifted her face trying to reach him to get another of his searing kisses. Yet he pulled his head back. She stared at him, trying to decipher what it was he wanted from her.

  He wasn’t even attempting to hide the desire sparking his green eyes. Water beaded at the ends of his long hair before dropping onto his shoulders, soaking into the material of his jacket.

  Shara tried to lean against him, needing to feel more of his body, but once more he didn’t allow it. She had never wanted someone so much only to have them push her away. What she didn’t understand was why? He desired her.

  Suddenly he released her arms and took a step back. She slowly lowered her arms to her sides, confounded that he hadn’t made another move to kiss or touch her.

  Shara was swiftly losing her confidence. Her emotions had been on a roller coaster since they’d made love. Arriving tonight, she had been uncertain, but sure that she had to tell him what she knew.

  Then he pushed her against the wall with passion burning so bright he was on fire with it. Except … he then released her. Was she wrong about the attraction between them? Perhaps she wasn’t the one doing the seducing. She might have been the one seduced and tricked.

  No. She refused to believe that. Kiril was different from a Dark Fae. He wouldn’t demean himself with such tactics when he had other ways of getting what he wanted.

  Doubt, however, lingered and grew in her mind.

  “Leave,” Kiril said in his deep voice, the desire banked and causing his face to be emotionless and cold as stone.

  Leave? Was he insane? Where would she go? She couldn’t go home and couldn’t return to Balladyn. Ah, but he knew that.

  And didn’t care.