Page 13 of Her Dragon Defender

"I heard there were guest rooms upstairs. I need to know if a girl is in one of them," Blaze insisted. Diana wouldn't have gone into the private areas of the castle, but her mate might not have the same scruples. He wouldn't know for sure until he'd checked everywhere.

"No one is allowed upstairs without Mr Tremotino's permission," the servant said, visibly sweating.

Strong hands grabbed his arms. Two men, one on either side, with another two to box him in.

"Blaze Argyros?" one of the men growled.

Blaze considered denying it, but he couldn't for the life of him remember the false name he'd given when he bought his ticket. "Can I help you gentlemen?" he asked easily, though gentle was not a word he'd use for these bully boys.

"The Alpha wants you escorted off the premises, and to make sure you don't come back," the spokesman said.

Blaze snorted. Seriously, Tremotino considered himself an alpha male of this mundane pack of men? Blaze could wipe out the entire pack in less than ten seconds without breaking a sweat.

But not without revealing that he was more than just a man, something he couldn't do in front of ordinary humans like those present. Plus, this was technically Leo's birthday party. It was bad form to give a man corpses as a birthday gift.

Blaze sighed. "Fine, I'll leave." It wasn't like Diana or her mate were inside the ballroom anyway. Maybe they'd gone outside to the garden, and he'd spot them better in his other form from the air. It wasn't like Tremotino had gargoyle guards, not if he employed these goons instead.

He sidestepped the bully squad and marched out to the gate, making the bully boys trot to keep up with him. He half expected them to follow him down the drive, to reinforce their master's message to not return, but instead, they lined up in the gap between the open gates, shoulder to shoulder, with their arms folded.

As though mere men could keep him out of anywhere he wanted to enter.

But if Diana and her mate weren't inside the castle, he had better places to be.

"Bye, boys. You can go back to babysitting your boss. Maybe you should be protecting him from his gold digger bride, instead of me." Blaze turned on his heel and marched into the darkness, where no one would see him transform into his true form.

He was going to find Diana and her mate if it killed him.

FOURTEEN

"Please enjoy some refreshments while you wait. The prince will be up shortly," the butler said, gesturing inside the chamber at the top of the tower.

Too breathless to reply after climbing all those stairs, Eden could only nod as she staggered into the room and collapsed onto the nearest chair. A chair sitting at a table set for two, with a bottle of champagne in a frosted ice bucket and two glasses, just waiting to be filled.

Eden would have preferred water, but any drink would do. She grabbed the bottle – thankfully, it was already open – and glugged a decent measure into the nearest glass, before tossing it back, followed by a second glass, before she forced herself to stop. She probably should have eaten something first to soak up all that alcohol, but she hadn't thought about bringing a plate of food up those stairs with her. Now...she needed to sit down for a moment to catch her breath.

Just in time to see the door click shut behind the butler.

Alarm bells clanged in Eden's head, as she lurched for the door, grabbing the handle, but it didn't budge. Even when she kicked at the door, it stayed shut. Locked, from the outside.

Fuck, she'd been stupid. She should have stayed downstairs in the ballroom, where at least there was food. Here, there was nothing but half a bottle of champagne, and...and...the most enormous canopied bed she'd ever seen. Fit for a princess. Or a prince. Or maybe both of them together...

No. She'd come here for donations for the sanctuary, and to find Diana. She was not hooking up with some guy who fancied he was her Prince Charming. Eden pounded on the door, and shouted for help.

No response. The butler was probably already halfway down the stairs by now, and no one else was near enough to hear her.

Fine. Eden poured herself another glass of champagne. When Prince Charming came though the door, she was going to brain him with the bottle unless he let her out of here. She might only be a scholarship girl at Mirror Academy, but no one grew up in the foster system and survived without learning some self defence skills.

FIFTEEN

Riding the air currents above the castle, without that silly, scratchy mock military costume, felt much better than squeezing through a crowded ballroom. It gave Blaze a far better view, too. Tremotino's grounds were a veritable Garden of Earthly Delights from this angle. He'd never seen so many naked people in his life. While he did want to find Diana, he definitely didn't want to see her getting hot and heavy with her mate in the castle gardens. But for all the people outside enjoying the night air...not a single one appeared to be Diana or her mate.

Blaze flew a search pattern across the property, praying he'd missed something on his first pass.

Still no Diana.

Could she still be in the castle?

Most of the upstairs windows were dark, compared to the well-lit public areas where the guests who'd kept their costumes on continued to enjoy the ball. The one exception was the tallest tower, where a light glowed behind the curtains.

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