Dangerous Liaisons (Obsidian Flame Book 2) Read online

  Gone.

  She was gone.

  Lara.

  His.

  Ours.

  The dam holding back the raging beast broke. His blue-black magic rushed forward. Instead of fighting, Raf relaxed into the change and let the beast take over.

  Bones snapped, elongated and reformed. Muscles and tissue expanded. Fire like ice lanced through his veins as the awareness for his element heightened. Infinitesimal droplets of moisture in the air sang to him, waiting for his command. Nearby water reached out, wanting to be used.

  "Boss?" Hank stood beside the open driver side door. Eyes wide.

  Raf's neck elongated and scales plated his body. A roar filled with anger ripped through his throat.

  Nearby buildings shook, car alarms went off, and alley cats scurried away.

  Raf shook free the last vestiges of humanity, along with the remains of his clothing.

  With his wings spread wide, he launched into the sky. He had to beat his wings furiously to navigate out of the narrow alleyway. But nothing would stop him. Nothing would keep him from her.

  He’d tear down these meager buildings if he had to.

  Lara’s essence permeated the air. Like dew condensing on lush green leaves in spring. The hint of her scent became a teasing tug on his senses as if she called to him.

  Raf? Hank’s voice sounded in his head, a distant echo to his fury.

  They took her, he growled. They took what is mine.

  Praise for novels of J. C. McKenzie

  Shift Happens

  “SHIFT HAPPENS has excitement, intrigue and lots of danger. I love the whole cast of characters and how they played a part in the story” –Fresh Fiction

  Beast Coast

  “I loved this book as much as the first. There are secrets, surprises, and all manner of supernaturals.” –Paranormal Romance Guild

  Carpe Demon

  “The story keeps the adrenaline pumping and spine tingling tension building throughout the story with well written scenes full of vivid details that capture the imagination and make it easy for the reader to become engrossed...” –Literary Addicts Book Community

  Shift Work

  “It’s a terrific series and if you like supernatural reads, with a side of romance, the sort with solid and intense plots, gripping and very real dangers, hard choices, supernatural people some of whom can be selfish, cruel and bloodthirsty…You’ll be hooked.” –Jeannie Zelos Book Reviews

  Beast of All

  “This time out, J. C. McKenzie has outdone herself with high-velocity action, soul deep emotions and one of those finishes that you want to replay over and over!” –Tome Tender

  Dangerous Dreams

  “This new world promises to be an adventurous one full of snark, passion, thrills, romance, danger and wonderful characters and I can’t wait to read the next one.” –Stormy Vixen Reviews

  Dangerous Liaisons

  “Loved this story and loved Raf and strong, stubborn Lara and I can’t overlook Lara’s dragon who brought humor to this story.” –Paranormal Romance Guild

  The Good Griffin

  “THE GOOD GRIFFIN is as addictive as a double shot of espresso, only without any of the withdrawal symptoms.” –N. N. Light

  The Shucker’s Booktique

  “Is there anything sexier than a man who wants to do more than just twine his aura together with another woman? Because if there is I simply don’t know if I can handle that kind of blatant sexuality.” –Romance Novels For The Beach

  Be My Love

  “When this book ended I think I actually sighed. Not because I was happy it was over! No, it was just so darn sweet I couldn’t help it." –Romance Novels for the Beach

  Books by J. C. McKenzie

  Shift Happens

  Beast Coast

  Carpe Demon

  Shift Work

  Beast of All

  Dangerous Dreams

  Dangerous Liaisons

  The Good Griffin

  The Shucker’s Booktique

  Be My Love

  DANGEROUS LIAISONS

  AN OBSIDIAN FLAME STORY

  J. C. McKENZIE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  Dangerous Liaisons

  COPYRIGHT © 2017 by J. C. McKenzie

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  Contact Information: [email protected]

  Cover Art: Taurus Covers

  Publishing History:

  First Stoking the Flames II: Tales of Legends, Lore & Everlasting Love, 2018

  First JCM Publications Edition, 2018

  ISBN-13: 978-1775225126

  ISBN-10: 1-7752251-2-7

  To Jackelyn, my kindred spirit.

  Acknowledgements

  I’d like to thank the amazing people who are a part of Stoking the Flames II for their support, guidance and love. I’d especially like to thank Julia Mills for her kindness, generosity, and for accepting me as a contributor for the box set Dangerous Liaisons was a part of. You’re a wonderful human being.

  Thank you to Taurus Covers for the beautiful cover. I’d also like to thank my fabulous editor, Lara Parker. She missed me. I missed her. I’m so happy I got to work with her again. And yes, I named the dragon after her.

  Thank you to my FANTASTIC beta readers: Charlotte Copper, Karilyn Bentley, Debbie Taylor, and Charlene Bauer. Your feedback really helped smooth out and clarify everything in this story. Extra shout out to Charlotte for suggesting Clarice as a dragon name. I think she might’ve been joking, but I loved it.

  Lastly, I’d like to thank my family and friends for their love and support, and you, the reader! I appreciate every sale, every snippet of feedback and every review. Thank you for reading my stories and delving into the worlds I create.

  Chapter One

  Lara stood behind a table full of gambling businessmen in a high-stakes poker game and, not for the first time, questioned her life choices.

  A single hanging light illuminated the oval table in the otherwise dark windowless room. Thick doors muted the thudding bass from the thriving nightclub on the other side, and despite the men’s heavy cologne, the smell of musty smoke clung to the walls along with who-knew-what kind of grime.

  She pulled on the miniskirt and tried to force the stretchy material to a more respectable length. Even in the dim lighting, the pale skin of her legs glared at her.

  Misha leaned her willowy frame over to whisper. “Stop fidgeting.”

  Lara straightened at her co-worker’s comment and dug her fingers into the gold rhinestone clutch.

  Her client for the night, Louis Granger, glanced over his shoulder and leered at both women. With high cheekbones, a long nose, and hooded, close-set eyes under thick, dark brows, the older eastern European business man was used to getting what he wanted and acted accordingly. Lara couldn’t stand him, but a job was a job, and she’d get a nice, fat paycheck for protecting his ass for one night.

  The other poker players at the table followed Louis’ gaze and delivered equally indecent looks that lingered and left Lara wanting a shower.

  She glanced over at Misha. “He knows we’re bodyguards, not actual call girls, right?”

  Misha snorted, her dark curls bobbed. She jutted out a hip clad in leopard print. With longer legs an
d a shorter skirt, Misha dwarfed Lara like an elegant giraffe standing next to a frumpy meerkat past her prime.

  Loud music flooded the room as the door opened to admit the last remaining player. The sweaty air from the club rushed past him, carrying his sandalwood scent with it.

  Lara’s breath caught. No!

  Yes, her dragon moaned, and stretched from her coiled position deep within Lara’s psyche.

  “Mmmm.” Misha nudged Lara’s side with a bony elbow, and whispered out the side of her mouth, “I didn’t realize the Astarot would be here.”

  Neither had Lara. This job spiraled from bad to worse.

  Well over six feet, Rafael Dragoi’s solid presence in a designer suit demanded attention. As leader of all dragons and the Obsidian Dragon Clan, not only did he have considerable power, but a tangible presence exuding confidence.

  And arrogance. He had a lot of that, too.

  Rafael surveyed the room. His gaze widened a fraction when his attention landed on her. His power leached out and licked her skin.

  Lara sucked in a deep breath.

  With ink-black hair and olive skin, his smoldering green gaze sought to pierce her heart from where she stood across the room.

  Her dragon sighed dreamily.

  She squeezed her thighs together as heat flooded her body.

  The whole exchange lasted a nanosecond. Rafael’s jaw tightened and he continued his slow perusal of the room.

  When his scalding gaze moved off her, she snapped to attention. He hadn’t placed an actual spell on her, but he may as well have. Unknown to the Astarot, Lara wasn’t only a female dragon shifter, but his mate. The problem? She wanted someone who wanted her for who she was, not what she was. She didn’t want a controlling alpha mate. No way. No how.

  Mmmm. He can place a spell on me, her dragon panted. He can place anything on me any day.

  Lara groaned.

  Her jezebel of a dragon was one of the many reasons she hadn’t returned any of Rafael’s calls. The beast was all too ready to jump in bed with the most powerful of all dragon shifters, consequences be damned. Her dragon was pissed at her for avoiding Rafael.

  Apparently, he wasn’t impressed with the silent treatment, either.

  Good.

  As the Astarot, Rafael Dragoi had the ability and means to discover her true identity. If he desired. Luckily, he respected boundaries, so far, and she’d given him no reason to believe she was anything other than a mage.

  Although a person’s essence stamped a brand on their magic, no one could determine the user’s supernatural nature from the flavor of their magic alone. As long as Lara reined in her dragon, Rafael would never discover her inner beast. Lara couldn’t allow that to happen. Once exposed, it would only be a matter of time before the isp—

  Lara clenched her teeth and balled her hands. The very thought of the supernatural group sent waves of terror crashing through her body.

  You know you’re not in Middle Earth, right? Saying the name won’t bring them down on us, her dragon chortled.

  Shush, lizard.

  He’d protect us, she continued, nudging Lara with her power and urging her to go to Rafael Dragoi like some spelled hussy.

  Sure, the Astarot could protect her…at a price.

  The price of his giant pen—

  Stop. Just…Stop.

  Slightly over a month ago, in early spring when the blooms first burst forth from their protective leaves, Rafael had hired her as a bodyguard, and the job involved her maintaining a close proximity with the walking sex-god—too close. His own dragon had her pegged, but apparently, kept the knowledge to himself for reasons Lara could only guess at.

  Why guess? Why delay the inevitable? her dragon asked.

  I think I should name you. Lara had actually named her dragon long ago, but the scaly beast kept resisting it.

  We’ve been over this, her dragon grumbled. You can’t name me. I’m a part of who you are, not some separate entity.

  Clarice is a good name, Lara insisted.

  Her dragon growled.

  Although each dragon resided inside the shifter’s psyche when not in form, they often had a mind of their own. They swatted at neurons and hissed when displeased like bored tigers at the zoo. Lara’s dragon was a wonton harlot who constantly reminded Lara of her lacking social life. Though her dragon wasn’t a separate entity, she sure acted like it sometimes.

  To make Lara’s life easier, she often thought of her dragon as Clarice—a unique individual instead of the sexually-repressed and unreasonably aggressive part of her consciousness that manifested as a magical creature.

  Lara didn’t know what Rafael’s dragon wanted, but she had no desire to test how long he could keep a secret from Rafael, or rather, from the other part of himself. She needed to work hard, bank some money, and disappear.

  “Gentlemen.” Rafael’s voice rolled over the room, deep and rugged, and all thoughts of keeping her distance fled.

  Her dragon mewled and rolled over.

  Lara shifted her weight. Maybe she could slip out unnoticed.

  Misha glanced at her and raised an expertly micro-bladed eyebrow.

  Lara shook her head. No, she’d never escape unnoticed and this situation defied all normal explanations.

  Rafael unbuttoned his suit jacket and sank into the seat across the table from Louis.

  Lara had a perfect view of his chiseled features. She swallowed the sigh threatening to escape. This would be a long night.

  Rafael cashed in and the dealer stacked piles of various colored chips in front of him.

  The door to the club opened again and Hank walked in. A giant dragon shifter in a suit, whose scowl rivaled her own, Rafael’s second-in-command, or Secundo, was linked to the Astarot and his life. Few matched Hank’s combat skills, magic and senses, certainly not Lara.

  The dark room muted the fire in Hank’s hair as he took his place behind Rafael. He straightened his designer suit and surveyed the room in a similar manner as Rafael. His green-eyed gaze settled briefly on Lara. His lips twitched, but he said nothing.

  “Thought this was a friendly poker game,” Louis growled. He jutted his chin at Hank. “Why the backup?”

  Rafael lifted a dark brow and his heated gaze flicked to Lara. “I could ask you the same thing.”

  “These girls?” Louis snorted. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder in their direction. “Cheap entertainment for later.”

  Asshat.

  Lara locked her knees and bit the inside of her cheek. She needed this job. She needed this paycheck. She didn’t need to throat punch this tool or call him any of the names flying through her mind right now.

  But it would feel good.

  Rafael’s gaze turned cold as he refocused on her client’s face. “I see.”

  “I’ll be doing more than seeing them,” Louis said.

  Lara clenched her hands into fists, and attempted to burn holes in the back of her client’s head with the strength of her glare alone.

  Misha nudged her and shook her head.

  Fine. No torching the client tonight. Think of the money. Lara grasped her magic and let it slowly curl around Louis, covering him in a protective sheath instead of a fiery cocoon of death. He’d been very clear. Magical and physical protection during the poker game were essential. He expected an attack.

  Lara coated her own body along with Misha’s. If any magical assault occurred, they’d have a buffer.

  Louis held his cards as if nothing happened, only breaking his intense scrutiny of his hand to quickly text a message and shove his phone back in his pocket. To those not magically gifted, the warding effect would go almost undetected, spreading enough of a chill across the skin to raise a few hairs.

  Rafael and Hank immediately stiffened. They glanced at Lara.

  She shrugged. She couldn’t exactly warn them, but in an instant, Hank’s magic flared and mimicked her actions—coating Rafael and himself in a protective barrier.

  Too bad it’s not
Raf’s, her dragon whined.

  Lara agreed, but she’d never admit to craving the delicious taste of Rafael Dragoi’s magic against her skin. Especially not to her horny internal beast.

  Nor would she discuss how he haunted her dreams every night, how she relived the one and only searing kiss they shared, or how that moment had burned into her mind. Now the neurons in her brain plucked and played with the memory, embellishing the details and letting her imagination run wild.

  The dealer dealt another hand. The chips thrown into the pot by stone-faced players clinked against each other on the table.

  Rafael laid his cards on the felt-covered surface. His gaze flicked to Lara briefly, as if challenging her somehow.

  The other men groaned.

  She leaned forward to look at his cards. Two kings. A king had also shown up in the flop and the river. He would’ve known his probability of winning was high, and could’ve bet more. He hadn’t, though. Instead, he lured them in. Her dad always said Texas Hold’em wasn’t a card game, it was a betting game. Apparently, Rafael Dragoi, leader of the dragon clans, operated under the same premise.

  And he played to win.

  A burst of music alerted Lara. She turned to the only door. The blur of a gloved hand tossed a shiny sphere into the room.

  The metallic ball bounced on the table. It rolled over the chips and settled in the middle as everyone sat and stared at it, stunned.

  “Look out!” Misha screamed, and dove at Louis. She pulled him down as the door slammed shut.

  Blue smoke spiraled out of the object.

  Before Lara could act, something large and hard barreled into her. She flew back. The impact with the floor, combined by a heavy weight slamming on top of her, knocked the air from her lungs.

  “Oomph,” she groaned.

  “Stay still.” Close to her ear, Rafael’s deep rumbling voice flowed over her skin like the calloused hands of a late night lover.

  Rafael's magic raced along her skin, drawing out her power before spreading to coat everyone in the room with a deluxe shield formed from their combined essence. The masculine scent of sandalwood flooded her senses.