Cassie rose and turned her back to the bed as she whispered, “Oh, God.”
“But you won the fight,” Con said. “You killed him. Why should I believe what you say? He’s the one who could be bait. We’re mostly men here. Would it no’ serve your purpose if we were to rescue you instead of a male?”
Denae wasn’t surprised by Con’s words. “I’ve nothing to offer as proof. I don’t want to know whatever it is MI5 is trying to uncover. They sent me here to die. If I return to them, I’ve failed in the mission and I know too much. They’ll kill me. If I leave and try to travel anywhere under my own name, I’ll befall some accident that will take my life.”
Con rose, a small, calculating smile on his lips. “So, Denae Lacroix. Your life is in our hands, aye?”
“Yes,” she said, though it pained her to do so.
“Good. Considering I believe you, I’ll allow you to leave under a new name, but until that happens, you’re going to give me everything you know about MI5 and who is working there.”
As if she had a choice. She needed to leave Dreagan—and the country—and her best chance was by cooperating. “Deal.”
Con opened the door, and Cassie walked out ahead of him leaving her alone with Kellan. He walked with slow, measured steps to the bed, and her heartbeat accelerated at his nearness. Not because she felt threatened, but because he intrigued her, fascinated her.
Transfixed her.
He paused beside the bed and leaned down. Denae was as still as stone as his head lowered. Her lips parted in anticipation of his kiss.
His hands gripped the tray and lifted it from her lap. Then he turned on his heel and left the room, the door closing softly behind him.
“Great, Denae. Thinking you’re going to get a kiss from a man who can’t stand to look at you.”
She had better things to worry about, like how she was going to evade MI5 and MI6 for the rest of her life. But even through all of that, she couldn’t stop thinking of celadon eyes and caramel-colored hair.
CHAPTER FOUR
Kellan pulled the door shut behind him with his foot as he walked from the room. He wasn’t sure what prompted him to get that close to Denae again.
Denae. It was a beautiful, refined name that rolled off his tongue with ease. As much as he hated to admit it, it suited the woman who bore it.
He had seen for himself how well trained she was, but even with her defensive moves and confidence, she was all woman. And he hated how he noticed that.
Noticing was nothing compared to recalling the feel of her body in his arms. The entire car ride back to Dreagan he’d held her against him.
Her warmth, her clean smell still hadn’t left him. Nor was he able to push aside the enticement her amazing body offered.
And her face. Kellan nearly groaned aloud as he thought of her whisky-colored eyes that pierced his very soul.
Her heart-shaped face was captivating, her kissably plump lips tantalizing. How he kept his hands from running over her cheekbones and delicate jawline, he’d never know. Even her coppery-brown eyebrows tempted him as they arched over her eyes.
She was, he hated to admit, breathtakingly beautiful. There was a fragility about her that warred with the strength he had witnessed.
Denae was an enigma, an irresistible morsel he did not want to take a bite of.
Kellan walked to where Cassie stood with the others and stopped in front of her, the tray he held nearly hitting her before she grabbed it. He waited for his body to respond to Cassie as it had to Denae, but to his chagrin, nothing happened.
“You better have a damn good reason for being so close to my mate,” Hal stated, ice dripping from each word.
Kellan turned his gaze to Hal and lifted a brow. “If you doona want men around her, perhaps you should’ve thought twice before living here where she’s surrounded by Dragon Kings.”
“Enough,” Con said before Hal could respond.
Kellan looked back at Cassie. “She willna eat now. Give the woman another thirty minutes and then bring her a new tray. I suspect she’ll eat then.”
“Why won’t she eat now?” Cassie asked, her brow furrowed as she took the tray.
“Because she’s scared,” Con answered. “That much was obvious. What isna so clear is if she’s frightened of us or MI5.”
Cassie glanced at the door to Denae’s room and frowned. “She was given coordinates to Kellan’s cave. Is someone betraying us?”
“No’ someone here,” Hal said as he put a comforting arm around her.
Con sighed loudly. “It’s Ulrik. We just have to figure out how he’s doing it.”
“He’s no’ been on Dreagan in thousands of millennia,” Kellan said. “How do you figure it’s him?”
“Who else would it be? Besides, the layout hasna changed,” Hal said.