All her life, she loved the legend of the Quickdraw Dragon. But she’d never expected that her obsession with a Wild West gunslinger would lead her to the most wonderful, amazing partner in the whole world.
And now their legend was only beginning.
Epilogue
A small, gentle breeze blew across the vista, warm and inviting as Clancy and Billie enjoyed the view of the plains.
It was early in the afternoon, and the sun floated lazily across a cloudless blue sky. They could see for miles and miles from here. The view was practically endless.
The perfect Texas day. It was almost like nature was giving its blessing on what he was about to do.
“Stay far away from the edge this time, darlin’,” Clancy joked.
Billie laughed. “Or what, you gonna save me again?”
“Nope,” he replied, getting down on one knee and pulling a small leathery box from his pocket. “I might make you mine forever.”
Billie gasped, eyes wide, hands moving to cover her mouth.
“Belladonna Palmer, I’ve wanted you since the first moment I met you,” he said. “Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” He opened the box, showcasing the large emerald set in bright yellow gold.
She nodded ecstatically, then shook her head. “Yes. Wait, no, we’re already mated. You didn’t have to do this.”
“Maybe not,” Clancy said, chuckling. “But I’m a southern gentleman. I intend to wed you good and proper.”
Billie smiled warmly. “Well, in that case, yes! Yes, Clancy, I will absolutely marry you!”
She threw her arms around him, and he picked her up, twirling her in his arms and loving how happy she looked.
His dragon roaring in triumph, he took the ring from the small box and slid it onto her finger.
It fit perfectly.
Almost as perfectly as his lips did against hers. He reached down to kiss his fiancée, and when their lips met, rightness, happiness, and belonging seeped through him.
This woman, his mate, his fiancée, was everything he could have asked for and more.
When they broke apart, she admired the ring on her finger. “Wow, that is one big stone. Where did you get this, Clancy? Wouldn’t this sell for millions now?”
“The millions are worth nothing compared to the view of it on your finger, Billie,” Clancy replied adamantly. “But if you must know, I got it from a wealthy jeweler I helped a long time ago. I stopped a robbery at his store, and he gave it to me.”
She looked perplexed. “But the Quickdraw Dragon—”
“Doesn’t accept rewards. I know.” He finished her sentence, then shrugged. “But the man insisted so strongly that it was easier to not turn him down. And I had a feeling it would be special someday.”
“It’s already special,” she said, holding her hand up to his face. “It matches your eyes. They’re both a beautiful shade of green. It also reminds me of your dragon.”
“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”
She smiled as though the explanation was obvious. “Because they’re both absolutely perfect to me.”
He couldn’t help but blush at that, and he pulled his mate into his arms, loving every bit of her.
“On another note, we have a party to attend,” he said.
The sides of her mouth turned up in a smile. “Do we now?”
Clancy winked. “We do. And there’s no better way to enter a party than on the back of a dragon. How about we fly back to Dragonclaw together?”
“I’d love that.”
After he transformed, she hopped on his back, and he carried them down the vista.
Fun, upbeat country music was filtering through the air when Clancy landed in the main area of Dragonclaw. A large picnic table was set out, cluttered with beers and a fried chicken dinner.
Everyone was there, and a cheer went up from the group when Billie slid off of Clancy’s back, left hand held aloft.
Clancy watched happily as Billie went over to show Marian and Sierra the ring. It made him proud when they all squeaked in delight and hugged each other excitedly.
“So the swamp dragon has a mate after all,” Harrison said, looking pleased as he slapped Clancy on the back. “Who would have thought?”
“I did,” Beck said, surly as always and holding up a beer. “If a mountain dragon can have a mate, so can a swamp dragon.”
“That might be true,” Clancy replied shrewdly. “But up until a little while ago, you were sure you didn’t have one either.”
“Got me there. Fate works in mysterious ways, I suppose,” Beck said, eying Sierra fondly.
Clancy couldn’t agree more. “Indeed, it does.”
They chatted and mingled for a while longer before everyone sat down to the meal.
“Okay, but there’s something I’ve been wondering,” Reno said. “Billie, how did your family know about dragons for so long but still keep the secret to themselves?”
“Oh, that. Good point.” Billie laughed and reached over, patting Clancy’s knee with her hand. “Pretty much everyone in the family knows the story, but most think it’s just a tall tale. Me and my pa always believed, though.”
To Clancy’s surprise, Dallas spoke up. “I wonder how many other humans know.”
“What do you mean?” Beck asked.
Dallas paused. “People who have seen shifters but keep it quiet.”
“That’s a good point,” Harrison said. “I’ve been wondering the same. With everything that’s been going on in the world, someone’s bound to see something. It’s not like the old days anymore, when people just stayed in their own business.”
Sierra laughed. “Yeah, my homestead isn’t extremely far from a few other spreads, and a basilisk popped up right in front of it. I’d be surprised if no one noticed at all, considering how big they are.”
“Yeah, and I fought it off,” Beck said proudly. Then he cocked an eyebrow at Clancy. “As I heard it, your mate and that basilisk saved your ass, Clancy, not the other way around.”
“He did save my life actually,” Billie replied, smiling at Clancy.
Clancy grinned proudly at his mate. “With a little help.” He leaned down to kiss her. “Okay, a lot of help.”
Everyone at the table laughed or cooed as Clancy and Billie kissed.
“Whatever happens…” Harrison said, holding up his beer in a toast. “Whether it’s basilisks or humans or other shifters, we’ll take them together as a crew. Nobody can take us down.”
“Hear, hear!” Reno said.
The group cheered and toasted to that, and everyone began to eat.
“After this, I want a rematch of shifter horseshoes,” Beck said, scowling at Reno. “Ain’t no way I’m letting a wolf best me again.”
Reno laughed. “Aw, Beck, you know I don’t want to hurt your mountain-size ego like I did last time.”
“Beck ain’t the one with a mountain-size ego,” Dallas muttered.
Clancy snorted and looked around, but it seemed like he was the only one who heard Dallas’s words.
“You’re playing dirty. That’s what it is,” Beck replied. “You know I’m a mountain dragon, but I don’t know what the hell powers you have, alpha wolf.”
Reno shrugged. “Fine, I beat ya once. I’ll do it again.”
“Not if I can help it,” Harrison added. “I’m the boss, after all. I still can’t believe I lost… and in front of my wife too.”
Marian laughed and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. “It’s okay, baby. You win enough just being mated to me.”
“Damn right I do.”
Clancy grinned at the scene. All of his friends, everyone he loved, they were here with him today, sharing in his and his mate’s happiness.
His mate.
He stared down at Billie, part of him still not believing that he could be lucky enough to have her for his own. But the bright emerald ring on her finger reminded him that she was, in fact, his mate.
“You know, it’s funny,” Clancy said, re
aching out and holding her hand, feeling the ring on her finger.
“What is?” she asked.
“Just the irony of it all,” he said, laughing and shaking his head. “The dragon’s talon has only ever brought bad luck, to me, to anyone that’s had it. But somehow, in the most unlikely of places and unlikely of ways, it brought you to me.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Hopefully, I made up for all of it.”
“Damn right you did,” Clancy replied instantly. “I stopped thinking about the possibility of a mate so many years ago, stopped believing, all because of the bad luck that never quit following me. Then you came into my life and made me believe, against all odds, that I could be happy.”
Billie laughed, looking down at their interlocked fingers. “It was worth it to meet the Quickdraw Dragon, to meet you, and I’ll keep reminding you every day of our lives that we’re meant for each other.” She grinned. “Besides, you’re stuck with me now. I ain’t going anywhere.”
“I should hope not. You’re the reason I found true happiness. I love you so much, darlin’,” he whispered, kissing her on the side of her head.
She leaned closer against him. “I love you too, Clancy.”
How wonderful it was to hear those words from her lips, to know that now and forever, she would be his mate, that they would spend the rest of their lives together.
He couldn’t wait to get started.
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Zach, Isaac Morningstar III, touched the chunky iron chain around his neck as he caught his reflection in one of the dingy shop windows he passed. Anger contorted his expression as he withdrew his fingers and started again down the street of the bad neighborhood he’d been dropped in.
He was still getting used to the modern world since he’d been woken up some months ago, but even he knew this wasn’t the type of place he would ever have chosen to go back to when he had full access to his dragon powers and a massive treasure trove that allowed him to live in comfort whenever he felt like being in human form.
And yet here he was, leveled, humbled, shackled by this collar until the oracle who watched over shifters was sure he could be “trusted”, barely able to partially shift, with no money and nothing but the clothes on his back.
Despicable state of events.
Not that he blamed the oracle. In his day, hundreds of years ago, dragons had been more akin to powerful, despotic demigods who terrorized humans when it pleased them and roamed the countryside freely. In human form, they were often dukes or lords with power to match, able to hide in the countryside in a massive estate if they so chose. To hell with caves.
Here, dragons had been remodeled to become something much more civilized. Now they worked in pairs, enforcing the laws of the shifter community and protecting shifters and humans in their area.
Protecting them.
The thought was ludicrous. Zach had never in his life met someone he wanted to protect, and he doubted anyone here in the selfish, petty human world was going to change that for him.
Thunder cracked overhead and he looked up with an annoyed scowl to see dark clouds overhead. A few more steps and he felt the patter of rain on his shoulders and shook his head in disgust. He looked around him to gain his bearings and saw a shop across the street that seemed friendly.
A human woman stood in the front window, smiling as she chatted with a man in front of her in a low chair. She had long hair, a mix of dark brown and red that shimmered over her shoulders. Soft, pale skin with rosy cheeks. A sweet mouth.
She was touching her male client’s hair, and Zach felt an odd rumble of jealousy at the sight of it.
She was providing some kind of service. Zach would go over and see what, and get out of the rain at the same time.
When he pulled open the heavy glass door, all eyes turned to him. Various men and women with striking colors of hair looked up at him in shock. Their clients, all arrayed in black cloaks, stared as well.
He saw seats to the side of the door and sat in one, glaring at the humans to try and deter the stares he was receiving.
He was a dragon, a powerful one. The world could rise or fall on the whims of him and his friends. They should show him respect, not this mixture of shock and disgust.
The girl he’d seen from the window turned to him with soft blue eyes. Kindness. That was unexpected. “Did you want to make an appointment?”
He pursed his lips and leaned back in the chair. “For what?”
“A haircut, of course,” she said, a smile touching her full lips.
Zach sat up a little straighter as a little bolt of warmth coursed through him. Most unexpected. He touched his shoulder length mop, tangled from the trip here and damp from the rain. “No. I do not need one.”
She smiled and shrugged. “Okay.”
Other customers sent nervous glances around and Zach ignored them. He picked up a magazine from beside him and pretended to hold it in front of him while he studied the people.
He wasn’t wholly ignorant of the modern world. He’d been living on a shifter-only island, but they had all of the technology. Just none of the humans.
As he assessed the people around him, he realized when this place closed, it would be evening, and time to find lodgings. He’d been walking all day, and would need somewhere to stay at night. If he could still take his full dragon form, he could go out into the woods and sleep there. His dragon form was impervious to cold. But his human form would probably freeze.
Drat.
He stared at the human again, narrowing his eyes. The man in the chair in front of her stood as she removed his cloak and took him to the counter where payment was taken. On the way there, he turned to Zach with a scowl.
“You could stop staring, hobo,” he said, before turning his back on Zach.
Zach gaped. Hobo? As in, a homeless beggar? For a moment he was speechless at the audacity of it. He was the furthest thing from that. Or was he? After all, he had incredible wealth but none of it was accessible. Incredible power but no way to use it.
He was kind of a hobo, wasn’t he?
“What is he smiling about, anyway?” the man muttered.
“Shush, Gerry,” the woman said. “You know I welcome anyone here.”
Negative one point for humanity for Gerry, Zach thought. Plus one for the girl with the kind eyes. He glanced around the shop. Probably not going to be any more positive points around here.
The oracle had said she’d remove the collar when she felt she could trust him with humans. He had no idea what that meant, but probably it meant hating them a little less. Being less aghast at the thought of protecting them.
When the man had left, the girl with kind eyes removed her black apron, reveali
ng a soft, curvy body in a short pink dress with black leggings underneath. She sat next to him, just a chair away, and gave him a kind smile. It made him tingle slightly.
Dragons did not tingle.
He shifted uncomfortably.
“My name is Erin,” she said, leaning forward with a smile.
“Okay,” he said curtly. For some reason, this little human set him off balance. He was still considering what that meant.
“Can I help you with something?” she asked. “I can call a shelter or maybe someone you know…”
He pursed his lips. “How about you just let me stay here and continue my observation? Or is that too much trouble for you?” His tone was slightly sarcastic and she raised an eyebrow in amusement.
“No, it’s no trouble at all,” she said sweetly. “You’re welcome to just stay in out of the rain as long as you like.” She looked at the clock. “Well, until we close. I was just making sure you didn’t need help.”
“I don’t,” he said flatly. He was frankly a little offended that she thought he was some kind of invalid seeking help. What about him was giving her that impression?
He flinched back when she reached for a lock of his hair that was falling over his face. “At least let me give you a wash and a shave,” she said. “On the house.”
He frowned. He didn’t want to accept this human’s pity, as in his other form he could eat her in one bite. But he’d seen her hands in the other man’s hair, and he wanted that. Wanted her touching him. Looking at him.
“All right, human.” He bit his lip and ignored the way he’d referred to her as she let out a light, tinkling laugh and led him over to her chair.
He sat down, sinking into the soft cushion with a sigh. She had to put the chair all the way down to work on him because he was extraordinarily tall compared to most humans. And good-looking, and muscled, if he said so himself.
As he faced the mirror, he admitted he was a little the worse for wear after his travels. He had an overgrowth of black beard, but that was manly. And his hair was tangled from wind and the slight rain.
Wrangler Dragon Page 17
