Dawn's Desire (Dark Kings 0.3)
Donna Grant
Chapter 1
London, June 2012
Banan glanced at Elena Griffin in the rearview mirror as he merged into traffic from the helicopter pad. They didn’t speak, because as far as the world knew, they didn’t know each other.
It was a dangerous game they played with Elena’s life, but she was their only link to discovering what was going on at PureGems.
Banan tightened his grip on the steering wheel. The realization that someone at PureGems knew the secret so carefully guarded at Dreagan left him furious. He couldn’t wait to discover who it was, and when he did, he was going to make sure their secret stayed hidden.
He and the others who called Dreagan home kept what they were a secret for a reason. The world couldn’t know about them. It was bad enough that two human females now knew. After several millennia of it being just the men, having females about seemed…odd.
And human ones, at that.
But Elena and Cassie weren’t just any humans. They had the love of a Dragon King—a rare event for sure. Because of that, Banan would risk his own life to keep the women safe.
Fortunately for him, he only had to worry about Elena right now. He wasn’t alone though. Banan inwardly smiled because he knew Guy was near, watching Elena. There was no way Guy would allow his woman out of his sight for long. Guy had wanted to be the one driving her, but both Elena and Banan knew in order for their careful planning to work, Guy had to keep his distance.
So Guy relented. Sort of.
“I hope we’re doing the right thing,” Elena said in her American accent as she lifted her mobile phone to her ear and pretended to use it so they could talk.
Banan slowed the car to a stop in front of a traffic light and watched a mob of people walk across the street in front of the vehicle. “There’s no other way. We’ve been over this.”
“I know. It’s just…” She paused and sighed. “I worked hard to get promoted to this position in London. PureGems is supposed to be one of the top five companies in the world to work for. How would they have learned about you and the others? More importantly, why do they want to know?”
They were good questions, and ones Banan desperately wanted answered. The fact he and the others were dragon shifters had been a vigilantly shielded secret since they had sent all the dragons to another realm eons ago.
Banan clenched his jaw as thoughts of the dragons and the life he’d once had began to fill him. Instantly, he shut off those memories. He couldn’t allow them.
Ever.
He’d racked his brain, trying to determine how anyone would know what they were. Their company, and their home, Dreagan Industries, was situated deep in the Highlands—very nearly impossible to reach.
He and the others who owned and ran Dreagan had gone out of their way to keep what they were hidden, which was difficult considering they made one of the finest scotches in all the world. But concealing their true identies had been something they’d done since the war with the humans had nearly ended both species.
It wasn’t always easy in this time of video cameras on every street corner, satellites, and mobile phones to keep the truth that they could shift into dragons from everyone. People were more aware of others, and if someone tried to hide, they would search even harder to discover just what that person was withholding and why.
Which was why they were careful not to appear as if they were hiding. They were walking on a knife’s edge, and one stumble could end it all.
That stumble nearly happened when Elena and her boss, Sloan, had gone caving on Dreagan land. Sloan had died, and the Dragon Kings saved Elena in the nick of time.
Banan glanced up at the sky through the buildings cluttering London as he pressed the accelerator and proceeded through the intersection.
Anger simmered at the freedom he was denied. It had been decades since he dared to spread his wings and take to the sky. There had been a time dragons outnumbered people, but that time was so long ago it almost seemed a dream now.
Banan pressed his lips together. He was a Dragon King, but he no longer had any dragons to rule. They were gone. But at least they were safe.
“All you have to do is discover what they know,” Banan said to Elena in order to turn his mind off the past. “Guy will make sure you are no’ harmed.”
“And you?” she whispered, her gaze meeting his in the rearview mirror.
Banan grinned confidently. “I’m here to ensure that whoever it is who dared to send people onto our land and see us in dragon form can no’ talk anymore.”
Elena shivered, but lowered her phone and dropped it into her purse. There was no more need for words. It had been said over and over again. And the plan was flawless.
PureGems contacted Elena after learning Sloan had died while they were caving on Dreagan land. It hadn’t taken Elena and Guy long to give in to their attraction, or for Elena to tell him all she knew.
Which, fortunately for Guy, hadn’t been very much. Yet Elena wanted to get to the bottom of it just as much as the Dragon Kings did.
So when PureGems offered to fly Elena back to London via helicopter, their plan was set into motion. With all Dreagan’s connections, it was easy enough for Banan to take the place of a driver at PureGems.
He, Guy, and Rhys made the trip to London ahead of Elena, and it had taken everything he had to keep Guy from going to his woman and ruining their carefully thought-out plan.
As Banan pulled to the curb in front of PureGems, he spotted Rhys hiding in an alley across the street. Banan would hazard a guess that Guy was up on a rooftop somewhere, observing.
“Remember, Elena, as soon as you have information, get out,” Banan said. “Guy willna wait long for you.”
She leaned forward and grasped the handle of the door. “Just make sure Guy doesn’t get hurt.”