Aiden’s gut twisted. “I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“Join the club.” Claudia’s eyes flashed dangerously. “Because of that son of a bitch, my brother is probably lying dead in the back alley behind some slimebag drug dealer’s house.”
“Did you try the number left in the email?”
“Yeah, no answer. I tracked it to one of those disposable, pay-as-you-go phones. After that, the trail’s gone cold.” A slight crack fissured through Claudia’s usually gruff tone. She blinked furiously, as if trying to ward off the tears she refused to shed in front of him. “I sent Kinnit an email, pretending I was Tucker and that I had Dana. I figured if I could get him here under that pretense, you and I could scare him into revealing where he’d sent my brother. But now I’ve blown it. I might never see Tucker again.”
Despite Claudia’s sketchy business dealings and her penchant for being a world-class smartass, he couldn’t be a coldhearted bastard in the face of her obvious misery. Stepping forward, he wrapped her in a tentative hug. She sniffled against his shoulder for a moment before shoving away from him. “Shit, Fortune, leave the groping for your sacrifice, would ya?”
Straightening her jacket, she brushed past him and strode toward the door.
Jesus, trying to comfort the chick was like trying to cozy up to a porcupine. “We’ll find Morgan. He has less than sixty hours to make a grab for Dana. Soon as he makes his move, his ass is mine.”
Skepticism shadowed Claudia’s face. “You better plan on watching that sacrifice of yours every second of the day. God knows, she’s a prize Kinnit is dead set on acquiring.”
Dead. She couldn’t be more right. Because if Kinnit so much as laid a finger on Dana, he’d be one dead dragon.
Chapter Eighteen
By the time Aiden stepped through the entrance of Fancies his blood had hit the boiling point. He spied Dana and Jace standing outside her office, talking to a short woman with frizzy black hair. His resolution from earlier came roaring back to life. He’d rip Kinnit apart if anything bad happened to Dana. Jace glanced his way and arched his eyebrows. Realizing his face probably displayed his murderous thoughts, Aiden attempted a calming breath but his body refused to obey any command to relax. Jace mumbled something to the chatting women before striding in Aiden’s direction.
“Dude, you look like you’re two seconds away from chomping into someone’s ass.” Jace slid his gaze toward the front desk where Dana’s assistant was busy yapping on his cell phone before lowering his voice. “Where the hell were you this morning?”
“With Claudia.”
An off-key whistle blew from Jace. “Well shit. No wonder you’ve got the homicidal vibe going on. What momentary insanity possessed you to meet up with Knoxville?”
In short order, he filled Jace in on everything he’d learned during his morning’s adventure with Claudia. When he got to the part about Morgan Kinnit’s plan to kidnap Dana and force himself on her, Jace growled low in his throat.
“I say we track down the fucker and beat him within an inch of his life.”
“Trust me, I’m all for that idea.” Aiden’s scrutiny returned to Dana and his heart squeezed. She’d been put through too much bullshit in her lifetime. Losing both of her parents at a young age. Struggling to make a success of her gallery, only to have it vandalized. Because of him. He wanted nothing more than to make her life easier, give her the happiness she so deserved. Instead, he’d brought her nothing but misery.
“Bro, we’ll find him. You can count on it.” Jace’s expression held determination and sympathy. Obviously he’d intuited the turmoil battling within Aiden.
Detecting the pity in his brother’s eyes, Aiden wondered exactly how transparent his feelings for Dana were. He hadn’t tried too hard to hide his possessiveness where Dana was concerned. It certainly wouldn’t take a stretch of the imagination for anyone to determine he’d fallen for her. Hard. And Jace was no fool, despite his penchant for acting like a monkey’s ass at times.
Jace scratched his jaw. “Do you think Knoxville can be trusted?”
“Normally I’d say no, but why would she lie to me about any of it?” He shook his head. “If you’d seen the desperation on Claudia’s face, you wouldn’t have any doubts.”
“But that’s just it. She’s desperate. If everything she told you is true, it stands to reason she’d have damn good motivation to get her hands on Dana.”
Shit, he hadn’t considered that angle. Just what they needed—one more person they might have to protect Dana from. At this rate, they’d need to keep her under lock and key. Yeah, she’d welcome that idea about as willingly as getting a root canal without the accompanying Novocain.
“There is something we could do to dissuade an attack on Dana. At least temporarily.” Jace sent another covert glance in Tony’s direction. The young assistant had ended his call and was now flipping through an art magazine so Jace nodded toward the front entrance. Following his brother’s lead, Aiden stepped outside. Soon as the door shuddered to a close behind them, he peered at Jace quizzically. “What are you thinking?”
“We could initiate a claim mark on her.”
Staring at Jace, Aiden let the suggestion sink into his consciousness. The claim mark was the first step in the binding ritual. It sealed the intention of the Drakoni and his sacrifice, providing an invisible yet unmistakable proclamation to all other dragons that the wearer of the mark was off-limits. The mark also had the neat and rather useful side effect of dampening the libido of any dragon who hadn’t initiated the claiming.
In other words, it could provide the perfect answer to their predicament. If they could get Dana to agree to it. And considering it was a huge step in a direction she fought against taking, odds were slim she’d eagerly leap at the opportunity.
“We’ll make her see the wisdom in doing it,” Jace said, apparently reading Aiden’s thoughts again.
Displaying nowhere near the same conviction as his brother, Aiden inclined his head and elbowed open the door. “As soon as her customer leaves, we’ll talk to Dana.” And pray she wouldn’t display her typical stubbornness.
They stepped back inside the building. Ignoring the curious stare coming from Tony, they strode across the gallery, drawing the attention of Dana and her customer. Dana’s gaze locked with his and she chewed on her lip. A mixture of longing and uncertainty swirled in the depths of her eyes.
Dana’s customer let loose a giggle, breaking the edgy barrier of silence that’d fallen on the room. “Oh wow, you weren’t kidding about them being identical.”
A blush stole along Dana’s cheekbones. Clearing her throat, she gestured to the grinning female beside her. “Aiden, this is Jen Landrey. Her mother is my landlord here at the gallery.”
Aiden stepped forward and shook hands with the woman. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Likewise.” Stifling another giggle, Jen peered at Dana. “There’s no rush on the painting. I know you’ve got a lot going on with the big event this weekend.”
Dana’s mouth fell open and her face significantly paled. Her focus veered to Aiden. Her reaction confounded him, until he realized the wrong connection she must have made with Jen’s comment. His heart sank at seeing further proof of her obvious panic over Sunday’s binding ceremony.
Convincing her to accept the claim mark would be a battle.
With massive effort, he tamped down his mounting sense of defeat. “I believe Jen is referring to your aunt’s potluck shindig.”
Jen frowned at Dana. “What’d you think I was talking about?”
“I…uh…” A soft exhale rushed past Dana’s lips. “Nothing. Thanks again for stopping by. I’ll see if I can’t work on your painting for a little bit tonight.”