Coward.His dragon scolded.
“I know, Dragon. Silence. I’ve had enough.” Ryker had acted out of a need to protect his mate from the Draquonir laws, but also out of fear. He admitted to himself that he had been terrified of losing her when she discovered the truth; he was centuries old, an ancient dragon shifter. A creature of myth and legend. A monster in disguise.
Now she was gone.
He shook his head and stumbled forward, blood dripping with the steady beat of a leaking faucet into the sand.
“They ripped you to pieces.” Vector had arrived on the beach and now stood next to the dark elf, Prince Alrik.
“You are fortunate they did not kill you.” Alrik’s tone held no jest, merely a statement of fact.
“It wasn’t me they were after.” Ryker’s voice was dry and rough from battle and breathing fire. “I welcome your presence, Alrik. I need only your skill with that blade in battle, not as my executioner. My true mate has been taken from me.”
Alrik nodded solemnly. “Your brother has informed me of your mate’s abduction. If she is your true mate, you must fight for your sanity. Your dragon has become too powerful. You know this. Remain in control of him and lead the hunt to find her. I will honor my vow to your kind if necessary, but your death would be a great loss to all Draquonir. And”—he scowled—“I believe Vector has located King Erik’s private jet.”
* * *
Katy sat in her cushioned leather seat aboard Erik’s private jet, looking out the window wishing she had her cell phone. She had no idea where Emily was or when she would arrive in Italy. Ryker knew who she really was, she’d been kidnapped and she couldn’t even warn her twin. Or beg for forgiveness.
They’d been in the air for several hours. Plenty of time to contemplate her situation.
Whoever Erik was, he had money. Power. Big, scary, Viking-looking hunks crawling all over the place. The few words he’d said to Katy since she’d been whisked away in the car gave her no clue as to who he was. He had the same strange, not quite familiar accent that Ryker did. Erik signaled one of his Guardians to come over.
Erik sat in the seat facing her this time. “Can you bring me a whiskey, please? Ms. Toure? Anything for you? White wine? A spritzer? Sparkling water? Are you hungry?”
She shouldn’t, she really shouldn’t, but she could not get the image of those dragons out of her head. Either she was seeing things, or the world no longer made sense. “I’ll take a double shot of tequila.”
Erik grinned at her as the large man left them to get the drinks. If she wasn’t totally in love with Ryker, then Erik could definitely turn a girl’s head. The man was drop-dead gorgeous. Even if he had kidnapped her.
“Now, Ms. Toure, or may I call you Emily?”
Holy shit. He thought she was Emily? Of course he did. She was an idiot.
What the hell had her wonderful, amazing, dear, dear sister gotten her into now?
She took a deep breath. Mentally reviewed the twin swap rules again. Gave Erik a super fake smile. “Sure. Emily is fine.” Might as well try to appease him for the moment. Be polite. Give Ryker and the Guardians time to come after her. Because they would. She was sure of it. This guy was on borrowed time.
“Thank you, Emily. You may call me Erik.”
“Okay.” The giant Viking set the double shot of tequila in front of her, glass perfectly rimmed with salt, along with a fresh slice of lime. She settled a generous number of the salt crystals onto her tongue and gulped down the tequila, grateful for the instant warmth spreading in her gut, and ignored the lime. This was not the time.
Erik sipped his whiskey on ice and watched her in silence.
Finally, tired of waiting, she spoke first. “Why did you kidnap me, Erik? What do you want?”
“I want the truth.”
Well, that was fine with her. As long as she knew what the truth was. “All right.”
“How did Ryker recruit you for this contract?”
Oh hell. She had no idea and, per twin swapping rules, shouldn’t lie. “I don’t recall exactly, but I have a lot of contacts all over the world. Pretty sure someone I know mentioned a website.”
“I see. And what, exactly, were the contents of this posting? What attracted you to the job?”
Knowing Emily, that answer was easy. “Money. My mother has a lot of medical bills, and we didn’t have a way to pay them.”
“We being you and your identical twin sister, Katy?”