Dragon Awakened(67)

She got up and turned on her computer, staring at the screen as it booted up. Her Dragon, the traitor, pulled toward Cyn.

No. Not him, she told it.

But it purred. Purred!

Well, hadn’t Cyn said they were fueled by instinct and lust? That was for damned sure.

She clicked on several links, but they weren’t the Darren she looked for. “There’s not much on the Internet about him, other than a bunch of those find-a-person sites.”

The sound of cell phone keys beeping had her turning around. Cyn stared at the floor as he waited for someone to answer. “Hey, it’s Cyn. I need you to look up a Deuce named Darren Sweeney. Find out everything you can about him.”

While he waited for the person on the other end to retrieve the information, his gaze drifted to the pictures. One was of Ruby as a child, hugging a dog. He shifted his entire body away, and then she heard someone talking. Cyn said, “Great. And when you get a chance, could you look up a defunct lab called SUNLAB? I need to know who owned it. Thanks.” He walked to the computer and gestured for her to move so he could sit down.

“Please, be my guest.” Damn it, he should be contrite, not silently ordering her around. Why wasn’t he trying to prove he wasn’t coldhearted and ruthless? Or begging her forgiveness?

Would you forgive him?

Hell, no.

He went to one of the map sites and typed in an address. “Darren’s a Deuce, which fits our profile. He’s been married to Magda for thirty-two years, no children. And he’s self-employed, lists his occupation as a physics research consultant.” Cyn was zooming in on a house with the satellite view. A separate building sat several yards behind the residence. “Maybe that’s where he does his research.”

She twisted the fabric of her shirt. “It hurts my stomach to think that Darren could be behind this.”

He gave her a sympathetic look. “He’s the one person we know about who was involved in your father’s work. And who could reasonably replicate it. Before we approach him, we’re going to do a little investigating. We wait for them to leave and then we find out what kind of physics research he’s doing.”

“How are we going to do that when neither of us is a physicist?”

He got to his feet. “We take pictures, and we grab anything else we can get our hands on and bring them to someone who is.”





Chapter 17



Darren’s house was no mansion on the water. Still, it was nice, so his consultant services obviously earned him decent money. As with most Crescents’ homes, tall, thick hedges surrounded it.

Cyn had parked in a church lot with a view of the entrance. He’d verified their presence inside, so now it was a matter of waiting for them to leave. Which gave him too much time in this small space with Ruby.

That was the problem with getting emotionally involved. It made you do ill-advised things, like nearly making love with the woman whose parents you killed. He had been involved with women before, but he kept everything on the surface. Ruby had burrowed beneath his skin. Burrowed deeper than that, if he dared to contemplate.

He didn’t.

She’d talked about giving him her heart. That’s the part that killed him, that had broken through his haze. It was bad enough that he’d been about to take her body.

His Dragon responded to her pain. It tugged at him to reach for her, to say whatever he could to make it right. Nothing would make it right though. He’d committed the ultimate sin, taken everything from her. No matter that it was on someone else’s orders, he had their blood on his hands. Then he’d let things get heated between them, a bigger sin in his mind.

Heated. His Dragon snorted at the downplayed word.

Cyn had wanted her, every cell of her, even her soul. He’d drowned in his emotions the moment he buried his face in her neck. So he deserved the sting of her nail marks, the bruises from her beating.

Ruby settled into the seat, her arms crossed in front of her. In a monotone voice, she asked, “What’s the plan?”

“I have to figure out where you play into this.”

“I’m not hiding here in the car.”

Cyn braced his hand on the side of her seat, only inches from her. “I would never expect you to hide, Ruby. But remember, as much as you might hate me—”

“I do hate you. There’s no ‘might’ about it.”

“As much as you hate me”—he shoved the words out, each one lodging in his throat—“I have your best interests at heart. Don’t disobey my orders just to spite me. You getting killed will spite me. But is that worth it?”

She blew out a breath. “I’m not going to cut off my nose to spite my face, if that’s what you’re worried about. I might need you in this fight, but I don’t need you. There’s a difference.”