Kiss of Frost (The Dragon Stone Saga Book 1)(7)

He slowly turns his head and pierces me with ice-blue eyes from over his shoulder. "I was just about to ask you for a similar explanation." He lowers his gaze to the knife pressed into his flesh. "Where am I? And why do you have a knife at my back?"

My breathing speeds up at the sound of his husky voice. It's like whiskey over ice, smooth and cool at once. If he could bottle that up and sell it, he'd be a freaking billionaire.

"I'm asking the questions here." I push the knife into his back a little more, trying to show him I'm not backing down. "How did you get in here?" We've got the entire property warded for protection and typically anyone uninvited or unexpected would set off an alarm. We had no prior warning to the crash of glass in the sunroom.

His bowed mouth twists into a frown and his entire face darkens with anger. "The last thing I remember, some he-witch was cursing me to live inside some blasted stone, and now here I am, naked as the day I was born, talking to a tiny female holding a blade at my back."

I scoff. "Likely story. Did they send you?"

"Believe what you will, but my words are truth, tiny female. I don't know these people you speak of."

"The men who took Kay's mother and sister hostage for this." I reach down, grabbing the necklace off the table, and hold it in front of his face. "You're saying that you've just happened to show up when all of this is going down?"

He growls again, and his eyes change from ice blue to a greyish white and I step back. "I would never harm a woman or child." He eyes the knife still thrust out in front of me. "Even when they are holding a weapon on me." He narrows his gaze. "Who would do such a thing?"

I've got no idea who would do such a thing. As a matter of fact, I have no idea who would talk the way he's talking. I look him up and down again. There's something different about him. Something I can't quite put my finger on.

I grab the blanket on the rocking chair and throw it at him. "Can you cover up, for Christ's sake? We've got a child here." His power is swirling around the room and again my body feels like I've shoved my finger into a power socket. I don't know who or what he is but he's powerful as hell. More powerful than most.

He catches the blanket and turns to face me fully. My breath hitches and it takes every bit of willpower I have to keep my gaze above his chest, but I do it. It's not polite to stare, Ivy.

"How was I to know there is a child here? I do not even know where here is. Or when it is."

"When? What do you mean, when?" Again, I wonder if he's telling the truth. He doesn't seem like he's lying, but he could just be very good at it. I bite my lip as he wraps the blanket around his narrow hips. You could wash your laundry on his abs.

"Ivy! Everything okay in there?" Jem calls.

I start and eye the stranger still standing in the middle of the room. "I'm not sure. Keep Kay in the kitchen, but come out here."

"You're named after a plant?" the large, sexy man asks and I scowl at him.

"So what? What's your name? Brutus?" I mentally give myself a pat on the back for the quick retort before I feel Jem's presence behind me.

"My name is Beck the Mighty." He puffs out his chest at his words and my hormones do the happy dance at the same time my inner skeptic tries not to laugh.

"Uh, Ivy, you didn't tell me you were inviting a friend over." Jem's voice is filled with trepidation.

"He's not a friend. He appeared out of nowhere. His name is apparently Beck the Mighty." I try not to chuckle.

"Not a friend, but he's certainly mighty, all right." Jem steps closer to Beck, but not close enough to be within easy grabbing distance. "And why did he decide that now is a good time to appear?"

"I have no idea. He was naked when I walked in here and he doesn't seem to know where he is, or when it is."

"When?" Jem asks.

I nod. "When…"

"So, Beck the Mighty, eh? What's your story?" Jem questions, sarcasm dripping from her tone when she speaks his name.

"I just told the small female this."

Jem snorts. "Small female."

"Shut up," I mumble under my breath. I've always been the short, stumpy one and Jem has always been the tall, willowy one. "Let's stay focused on why he's here, who he's working for, and why he's naked in our house. He says that a 'he-witch' cursed him to live inside the stone."

"I work for no man. Much less ones who harm females and children," Beck adds and Jem and I share a glance.

"Then who are you working for?" I ask.

"No one. I was cursed into that wretched stone you've got clutched in your hand, as were my siblings. I've spent gods only know how long trapped inside it, listening to the world around me change."

"He really meant when," Jem whispers.

"I guess he did." I bite the inside of my cheek and look him over once more. "It's 2017. What year was it when you were, uh, put into the stone?"

"Twenty seventeen?" He roars. "I've lost over eight hundred years!"

"Holy shit, you're old," Jem deadpans.

He looks at her, his crystal-blue eyes wide, and I fear for her safety. "Uh, so that's a long time. Sorry about that. Any idea how you got out of the necklace?"