Dragon Heartstring(34)

Dusk was creeping into darkness as I headed home. My wrist comm beeped. It was Carra, sending a text message that we had a last-minute patient, a human boy. I veered my course and made short work of the flight to the clinic.

I slowed, soaring over the Warwick district, and punched a quick message to Demetrius I’d be late for our date at 7:30. He replied immediately he’d pick me up at the clinic. I smiled at how fast the stern businessman had become my doting boyfriend. And I was glad I’d worn my pretty pink skirt and black blouse to work today.

The street level was quiet since most businesses were closed except for the bistro and a few clothing shops. After landing in front of the clinic, I took a second to smooth down my skirt and wave a hand to my guard who kept vigil on the rooftop of the building across the street. I slipped into the clinic, but Carra wasn’t at her desk. She must be with the patient and his mother.

“Carra?”

The light in my office was on. Before I reached the open doorway, I sensed someone’s heartbeat thrumming like mad, the acrid taste of fear in the air. I peeked in without going in. Carra was bound and gagged in my office chair. She shook her head back and forth, trying to scream a warning.

I fled back down the hallway but was grabbed from behind, carried into an examination room, and slammed with my back to the wall.

“Ah!” My head rattled and my wings were crushed by the weight of the hideous man pressing his weight against me. A rough hand covered my mouth.

“If you scream for help, I’ll break your girl’s neck in the next room.”

He was a large bald-headed man with cold eyes and an even colder voice. “Do you understand?”

I nodded. He lifted his hand away from my mouth. I shifted enough to flatten my wings so they were no longer pinned in a position where he could break them with his suffocating weight. He wrapped his fingers around my throat, applying slight pressure.

“What do you want?” I asked, breathing hard.

His gaze swept down my body then back up. “I’m here to hurt you.”

“Wh-what?” Now it was my heart beating frantically in my chest.

Keeping one beefy hand on my throat, his other covered my breast and squeezed till I gasped in pain. “There are a number of ways to hurt a woman,” he said, grinning like a sadistic demon. “Boss didn’t say how I could do the job.”

“Who the hell are you?” I spat out, anger riding hard alongside the fear. “Who sent you?”

His groping hand reached for something in his back pocket. I slashed out with my fingernails and raked his face, kicking up with my knee at the same time. He blocked my knee but couldn’t block my hand. In one rough move, he picked me up and slammed me face-down on the examination table. My lungs squeezed as he leaned all his weight on me from behind, my wings falling out straight. He gripped the top arch and bent to the point of pain.

“No!” I begged, barely able to breathe with him on top of me. “Please don’t.”

He eased up but kept a tight grip. I heard a metallic flick, then he showed me the knife he held in his hand. “I’m going to break this pretty wing after I break your pretty spirit.” He pressed the blade to my cheek, enough that I could feel the sharp prick of steel but not so hard that it broke the skin. “Such soft, pale skin.” He glided the flat of the blade down my cheek. “Should I put a nice scar here first?” He released my wing then fisted a hand in my hair and wrenched my head back.

“Ow!” The sting on my scalp was quick and sharp. Panic gripped me hard. There was no escape now.

He glared down with a vicious grin, his foul breath wafting down. “Since you got a piece of my face, I think I’ll take a piece of yours.” He jerked my head again, grinning wider when I whimpered in pain. “Keep still, bitch, if you don’t want to bleed out.”

He moved the knife toward my left eye. Cold terror ripped through me.

“No. Please.”

Suddenly, his weight lifted off me, and he dragged me back with him. I hit the cabinet, the knife clattering to the floor. There was grappling in the hallway just outside the door. I scrambled to my feet and rushed through the doorway to find Demetrius kneeling over the man, beating the hell out of him. The man was already unconscious. Blood spattered as Demetrius continued to rain blow after blow in a maddening frenzy. Something crunched. I thought he was going to kill him.

“Stop! Demetrius, please stop!” I grabbed his forearm, which snapped him from his savage trance.

He was on his feet and had both arms around me in a split second, breathing ragged and body trembling violently. “Are you all right?”

I hugged him hard, finally allowing the tears to fall for what might have happened. “Yes.”

He pulled back and cupped my face in his hands. Bloody spray had speckled his cheek. “My God, Shakara. Tell me you’re all right.”

“I am. I’m fine. You’re here. I’m fine.”

He seemed to need me to repeat it to believe it, his eyes still stormy with rage. Pressing his forehead to mine, he said my name so soft, like a desperate prayer. “Shakara.”

“I’m okay. It’s okay now.” My inner healer wanted to help him find peace even though it was I who’d been in danger.

He pulled away long enough to punch a number on his wrist comm, then tugged me close again. Someone answered his call.