Dragon's Heart (3 page)

Mick ducked his head. When Brian put it that way, he did have a point. “Fine, I’ll get close to Lester again. It shouldn’t be too hard, since we were pretty tight before.”

But will I be able to separate my feelings of attraction from my feelings of friendship this time? I sure as hell hope so or I’m in for a world of hurt.

Brian gave him a small smile. “Thank you, I appreciate that. In fact, I’m naming you his personal Guardian.”

Great
! Just what Mick needed. More responsibility where Lester was concerned.

Mick stood. “If you’re done with me, I’d like to go check on him.”

“Go ahead.”

Mick left and went up the steps that led to Lester’s bedroom. It was at the end of a long, dreary hallway and much smaller than his brothers’. When he arrived, he found Duncan and Trent outside the bedroom door, engaged in a heated, whispered conversation.

“What’s going on?” Mick demanded.

“Nothing,” Duncan said, although the troubled expression in his eyes screamed that it was a big, fat lie.

“Does it have something to do with Lester?” Mick pressed.

“It’s really none of your business,” Duncan bit out.

“If it concerns Lester, then it is,” Mick argued.

“Just because you’re friends doesn’t mean that you have access to every part of his life.”

“Maybe not, but as his newly appointed Guardian I do.”

Mick watched as Duncan stewed over that one. Duncan turned to his mate Trent, who just gave a
whatcha-gonna-do
shrug, then turned back to Mick.

“What I’m about to tell you can never leave this hallway,” Duncan said.

“Got it,” Mick said.

“One of the reasons that Trent thinks that Lester is so exhausted right now is that he inadvertently used magic to put a protection spell around you guys at the hospital.”

Mick shook his head. Surely they were just playing games with him. “From what I heard, it takes major magical abilities to cloak one person, let alone a group of dragons. How would somebody with no training like Lester do that?”

Trent got a grim look on his face. “He’s a lot more powerful than any of us ever realised. Does anyone have any idea who his mother was?”

Duncan pinched the bridge of his nose. “No, Father just came home one day with Lester. He always refused to tell us who Lester’s mother was. Just that she was a sorcerer who wanted nothing to do with a bastard child.”

The way Duncan bit out those words showed what he thought about the nameless woman. A feeling Mick strongly echoed.

“Lester has had it really hard, huh?” Trent asked.

“Hard doesn’t even come close to describing it,” Mick replied viciously. “You do realise that this hallway is the servants’ quarters, don’t you? Did you know that whenever there was a public function held here, Lester wasn’t allowed to show his face, lest he embarrass the Lady of the Dragons?”

Trent glanced over at Duncan in shock. Duncan merely nodded to show that it was true.

“Are things going to be the same now?” Mick dared to ask.

“No, of course not. You know that Brian is nothing like our father was.”

“Then why is Lester in that room?” Mick demanded, his voice shaking just a bit.

“Because that’s where he went. Nobody had a chance to stop him. Once he wakes up, we’ll move him to somewhere more appropriate. We’ll make sure it has a room close by for you, too, since you’re his Guardian.”

Shit! Mick hadn’t even thought of that. Now that he was Lester’s Guardian he’d be living at the farmhouse twenty-four/seven. Like it or not, he was about to live, breathe and eat Lester.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to check up on him,” Mick said.

He slid past the pair and crept into the room. He found Lester sleeping on his side, the covers pulled up over his shoulders. He looked so peaceful and young that Mick was brought back to the times when they were kids, when magic and dragons didn’t matter. When all they cared about was friendship and having fun. Before real life and all that kind of crap had invaded and ruined things.

Mick reached out to stroke Lester’s hair back. “I’ll protect you. I promise. Even if I have to die while doing so. You’ll stay safe, I swear it.”

Chapter Three

Lester woke up in his old bedroom and it took him a few moments to realise why he was there. Then the previous day’s events came crashing down on him with a harsh reality and he sat up with a groan.

Little had changed since he’d left. His room was as Spartan as ever. There was just a dresser in one corner and a simple bed. No toys or decorations for him. The only difference was the small dragon who was sitting next to his bed, sleeping in the chair.

Lester reached out and tapped him. “Mick, what are you doing there?”

Mick sat up with a start, his bright eyes darting in every direction as if danger might be coming their way. He finally took a few calming breaths. “Sorry, you caught me mid-dream.”

Lester let out a chuckle. “It must have been a doozy for you to react that way.”

Mick ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, it kind of was. How are you feeling this morning?”

“Like I got run over by a herd of dragons, but otherwise, I’m fine. I don’t get why I’m so tired, though.”

“Trent thinks you used magic to shield us yesterday.”

Lester froze, then let out a laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of the idea. “But I don’t know how to use magic. I never have been able to.”

“He thinks you did it without meaning to. He says it’s been known for sorcerers to do that kind of thing in the heat of a dangerous moment. It would explain why we were able to get away so easily and why you’re so tired.”

“But you would think I would have felt myself doing it,” Lester argued.

“Maybe, maybe not. Everything happened so quickly last night.”

“I guess you do have a point there.” Lester looked down at his hands for the first time, actually entertaining the idea that he might be able to use them for magic. He’d been told for so long that he was useless that he’d never tried, but now he was actually beginning to think differently.

“Do you honestly think Trent can help me?” Lester asked, for the first time feeling hopeful.

Mick shrugged. “It couldn’t hurt. It’s not just your magic that you’re going to work on either. I’ve been named your Guardian.”

Lester cocked an eyebrow. “
You’re
my Guardian?”

Mick gave a cocky grin. “Yup, Brian told me so last night.”

“What’s the use? I don’t think I’ll ever be able to shift into a dragon.”

“Well, that’s because nobody was ever allowed to work with you before. Now it’s my job to help you out with that.”

Lester rolled his eyes. “Great! As if I didn’t have enough stress in my life. I’m supposed to learn magic and how to shift. No biggie, I can handle it.” He got up and began to pace.

Mick stood and put his hands on Lester’s shoulders. They were standing facing each other, their faces mere inches from each other. It would have been so easy for Lester to reach out and snatch the kiss for which he’d been longing. Instead, he just stood there doing an impersonation of a scared rabbit.

“You can handle this. I know you can. Besides, you won’t be alone—you’ll have me by your side,” Mick said.

Lester took in a deep breath. “I suppose you’re right. The two of us are capable of anything, right?”

They both shared a laugh. It had been an old joke of theirs and damn if it didn’t fit the moment.

“Why were you sleeping by my side?” Lester asked. Not that he’d minded. It had been a nice view to wake up to. He was just curious.

Mick’s lips curled up into a wry smile. “Your brothers wanted to see you the second you woke up.”

Dread made Lester’s stomach clench. While his brothers had never been anything but kind to him, he was still leery when having to deal with his family. There was a reason why he hadn’t come back for a decade.

“Okay, might as well get this done and over with,” Lester said with a heavy sigh.

“You know they really missed you,” Mick said seriously.

“Yeah, I’m sure they did.”

“They really did. They kept tabs on you all these years. They made sure that you were safe at all times. Why do you think they sent us at the first hint of danger?”

“Because I might finally be of some use to them,” Lester said.

Okay, so he might be a bit jaded. So sue him.

“No, it’s because they care about you.”

Lester could feel his fury rising with each word that was spoken in the conversation. How dare Mick say these kinds of things? Sure, he might know some of the things that Lester had gone through, but he’d only seen the tip of the shit iceberg. He had no idea how bad things had really been behind the closed doors of the farmhouse. Or just how terrible the Lady of the Dragons could be when she wanted to.

“No, they don’t. Or else they would have found a way to stop it,” Lester said.

Before Mick could ask what
it
was, Lester brushed passed him and walked out of the room. Which was just as well. There was no way that he was going to share with Mick of all people just how bad things had got. Or how his own brothers had stood by and let it go on. Lester snorted. Who was he kidding? They were only his half-brothers and he needed to remember that. They sure as hell wouldn’t let him forget it.

Since he knew they would be in the library, because that was where their father used to always have his meetings, he went there. Sure enough, that was where they were all waiting for him—Duncan, Nicholas and Brian. As the leader, Brian sat behind the desk, Nicholas and Duncan flanking him. For a brief moment, Lester wondered if he was expected to kneel at their feet or something.

Since he wasn’t about to do that, he just stepped inside and stood in front of the desk. “You wanted to see me?”

Nicholas walked around the desk and embraced Lester in a tight, rib-crushing hug. Lester froze at first, shocked by the open display of affection. He soon caught on and returned the hug.

Before he could recover from that shock, he was getting hugs from his other brothers, first Duncan then, surprise of all surprises, even Brian. They pulled over a chair so he could sit with them, like he was their equal.

“Why are you acting so shocked?” Duncan asked.

“Because you’re acting like you’re happy to see me,” Lester blurted out.

As soon as he said that, he wanted it back because he knew how weak and stupid it made him sound. But there was no taking it back, so he just ducked his head and sank down in the chair that had been offered to him.

His half-brothers sat down too, and an uneasy silence descended upon them. It stretched for so long that Lester felt ready to crawl out of his skin before Brian finally broke it. “We are so sorry for the way our parents treated you as a child.”

That had been the last thing Lester had expected to hear. He looked up as shock coursed its way through his body.

His surprise must have shown on his face because Brian gave a sad nod. “I really mean it. We never wanted that to happen to you.”

“Then why didn’t you stop them?” Lester asked, knowing he sounded a bit like a child.

“We tried, but every time we intervened, they would only punish you worse. So as hard as it was for us, we learnt that it was better to stand back and say nothing,” Duncan said.

“You have no idea how difficult that was for us,” Nicholas added. “It killed us to see you abused that way. To have to sit there and watch as they treated you worse than a dog and to be unable to do anything to help you. That’s why we were so happy you at least had Mick to help you through the worst of it.”

“I needed you,” Lester said, his throat getting thick with emotion.

“Don’t you think we knew that?” Brian asked. “Every time we saw that bitch hurting you, we wanted to go to you, but we couldn’t because if we did she would punish you ten times worse. It took every bit of our self-control not to come to your aid.”

“Then if you loved me so much, why didn’t you send for me right after she died? Why wait until now when you conveniently need me?” Lester spat out bitterly.

Brian shook his head. “That’s not it at all. We thought that you wouldn’t want to be back here with all the bad memories.”

“Yeah,” Nicholas chimed in, “you seemed so happy with your new life that we didn’t want to drag you back here.”

“The only reason we brought you back at all was because your life was in danger. If not, we would have left you alone. We could have found another sorcerer some way,” Duncan added.

How Lester wanted to believe them, but he’d been burned by his family so many times in the past it was just so hard to put himself out there.

He pulled his knees up to his chest and let out a sigh. “I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

“Then let’s just go with the basic facts. You know your life is in danger, right?” Brian asked.

Lester nodded. “The way those sorcerers shot up my ER like the OK Corral pretty much told me that.”

“And you know that this is the safest place for you right now?” Brian pressed on.

Lester gave another nod, this one more reluctant. “I suppose.” He tried hard to ignore the brief look of hurt that flickered over Brian’s face.

“We can all agree that you used some magic yesterday,” Brian said.

“Trent said I did. I’m not so sure of that. I was tired as hell afterward, though,” Lester hedged.

Nicholas leant forward on his knees. “Come on. You have to admit there is no way you guys could have gotten away that easily without a protection spell around you. Since you were the only one with sorcerer blood in you, it goes without saying it was you.”

Lester let out a deep sigh. “Maybe, but I don’t remember doing it. So I don’t see how it can be of any help to us.”

“It shows that you do have magical ability,” Brian pointed out. “Have there been other times when weird things have happened? Maybe patients who have healed when they shouldn’t have? Locked doors opening for you? Other strange events?”

Yes, they all had, but Lester had chosen to ignore them all, not daring to even go down that path. Since his bitch of a birth mother had all but thrown him away, he had wanted nothing to do with her or her gifts, and he still didn’t want anything to do with them. But it looked like he didn’t have a say in the matter anymore.