Protector Dragon

by Liv Rider

  He glanced down at the clean, empty cups and saucers, glad there were still some left, then put a polite smile on his face before looking up at the man on the other side of the table.

  “Coffee, tea, or something else?” the most beautiful man Thomas had ever seen asked.

  “Um,” Thomas managed, because he really couldn’t think of anything else.

  Ours. His dragon was very firm about that.

  Thomas stared into blue-bordering-on-grey eyes and nodded. Yes, this man was definitely theirs.

  The man frowned. “Do you want tea and coffee?”

  Thomas was too busy looking at his eyes and his short, light brown hair that was glinting in the sunlight streaming in through the windows, and his pink lips that made him want to lean in to kiss him right now.

  Ours!

  He only realized he was swaying forward when the other man stepped back. He leaned on the table for support. “Sorry,” he managed. He looked down again, taking a deep breath. It didn’t help. His mate smelled wonderful, like home and safety and—and wolf shifter?

  “Are you all right, sir?”

  “Yeah.” Thomas stared at the white tablecloth. He was more than all right. He had just met his true mate. His dragon was elated, and ready to drag the other man back to their home and keep him there forever. “I’ll have a coffee. Black.”

  His mate poured him a cup and handed it over with a smile. “Here you go.”

  It took Thomas several seconds to take the filled cup. He’d been too distracted by that wonderful smile. “Sorry, thank you.” His fingers brushed against that of his mate’s. Now that they were so close, he caught the hint of wolf shifter in his mate’s scent again. It wasn’t as strong as that of most wolf shifters he knew, and surely if his mate was a shifter, he would’ve reacted to realizing Thomas was his fated mate.

  Maybe his mate had a close friend or roommate who was a wolf shifter and the scent had rubbed off? No, it was definitely too strong for that and too entwined with his mate’s own, glorious scent.

  “The brownies are all gone, but we’ve still got muffins.” His mate gestured at the trays on the other table.

  “Sounds delicious.”

  Our mate looks more delicious.

  Thomas felt his cheeks redden at the suggestion from his dragon. Oh yes, he’d certainly like to take his mate home, carry him to bed, and explore his body. His mate was a few inches shorter than he was, with a slender build. Thomas wanted to reach out to touch him, to do something to keep him close.

  It took all his self-control to walk over to the muffins, hoping it didn’t seem like he was dawdling as he looked at the muffins

  “Those are raspberry,” the lady behind the table said, smiling at him. She listed the other flavors as well, pointing at a section of the table each time. Thomas nodded along, but he didn’t hear a word she said. Every part of him was focused on his mate. On the rustling noises his clothes made as he moved, and the brush of his shirt sleeves against the rough fabric of his Hampton’s Café apron.

  “I’ll take this one, thank you.” He selected a muffin at random, giving her a quick nod, then he smiled at his mate.

  “Enjoy your coffee and muffin, sir,” his mate said, looking a little puzzled.

  Thomas took that as his cue to leave. He could come back later, after the speeches, when it was time for lunch. Once everyone was eating, he would have time to talk to his mate. There were so many things he wanted to say and ask and learn. Why he smelled so much like a wolf shifter was definitely one of those things. If his mate was a shifter, he would’ve been on the list of newcomers and Thomas would’ve visited him. And if he wasn’t a shifter, why did he smell so much like one?

  3

  Joel

  He sighed with relief once the speeches started in the large hall of the community center. It meant there wouldn’t be anyone rushing in for something to drink or eat for at least twenty minutes. But he didn’t have time for a break, they had to get everything out for the lunch.

  Walking back and forth with all the food and drinks and setting it out neatly on the table was a good distraction from the incredibly attractive man who had come in a few minutes before the speeches had started. Joel was glad he’d managed to give him his coffee without embarrassing himself. He didn’t understand why his heart had skipped a beat or why his palms suddenly felt so sweaty. He wasn’t even usually into blonds.

  He was definitely into this guy, though. His hair looked like gold in the light coming through the windows and his eyes had been as bright blue as a sunny day, and Joel was going to stop thinking in lines from cheesy ballads any second now. At least Claire kept him from daydreaming by telling him how to arrange the sandwiches and everything else. She didn’t want any confusion over the vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, lactose-free, and nut-free options, which Joel understood very well. One mistake and someone might end up in the hospital.

  “There.” Claire wiped her hands down her apron. “That looks good, doesn’t it?”

  He nodded, his mind going back to the handsome man. After all the worrying he’d done over shifters at the event realizing who he was, this was a lot nicer to think about. It wasn’t like he would do anything about his sudden attraction to the guy. After all, he was a shifter and Joel knew exactly how shifters felt about relationships with a human.

  Even if he hadn’t figured it out himself in high school, the sex education class would’ve made it clear. The teacher had covered both the standard things, about puberty and hormones and pregnancy, and the shifter side of things, like fated mates. The teacher had let Joel stay during that part, but he’d also told Joel it wouldn’t be relevant to him anyway, since it was impossible for him to be a shifter’s fated mate.

  No, shifters didn’t look twice at a human, especially not shifters who were really hot. The guy probably already had a relationship anyway.

  “How long do you think the speeches will last?” he asked, trying to distract himself from any more negative thoughts.

  Claire laughed. “Oh, you know how these charity people are. They’ll want to thank everyone for their contributions and persuade them to dig deeper for their next donation. It’s probably going to be closer to half an hour.”

  They talked about how things had been going so far and Claire mentioned something that Joel had noticed too.

  “Was it me, or did most of them seem either shy or angry? Some of them were scared to enter and some stomped in, glaring at us and leaving without so much as a ‘thank you!’”

  “Yeah, that was kind of weird,” Joel lied. He hadn’t been surprised at all. He had assumed that the quieter ones had been unsure about how to behave around humans and that the angry ones were annoyed there were humans here. The hot guy had been awkward too when Joel had asked him about coffee and tea earlier, replying as if his mind was elsewhere entirely. Joel would take ‘distracted’ over ‘angry’ any day.

  He didn’t think any of the other guests were human, which made him wonder why Hampton’s Café had been chosen to do the catering. There were plenty of decent shifter-run cafés and coffee shops around Lewiston.

  There was loud applause from the central hall, signaling the end of the speeches.

  As expected, the first guests came in only a few minutes later. They were more animated now, although Joel noticed that their excited chatting suddenly fell silent when they entered the room. At least more shifters than before actually looked at the two of them and were polite as they got something to eat and drink. He wondered what the speeches had been about. Orders to be nice to the human staff?

  Even though it was busy, he kept an eye out for the hot guy. He’d been pretty tall, even for a shifter, and Joel knew he’d be able to pick him from a crowd in an instant. His heart sank when things grew quieter as everyone returned to the central hall to eat and the blond still hadn’t shown up.

  It was for the best, he reminded himself. He was a human, not a shifter, and he didn’t want anything to do with shifters anyway. Who
ever that guy was, he’d have no interest in Joel.

  But when the man walked in, Joel found himself smiling back automatically anyway. It had been quiet for a few minutes and Claire was already taking stock while cleaning up a few things. “Can I help you?”

  “Yes, please!” The man smiled at Joel, and there was something oddly intense about his eyes.

  “Well, we do have plenty of options.” Joel nodded at the tray of remaining sandwiches.

  “I was wondering if I could talk to you.” His eyes were on the food, but Joel had the odd feeling the man was paying more attention to him than the tuna sandwiches.

  “Um, if it’s about the food you should talk to Claire.” His palms were getting sweaty again.

  The guy’s bright eyes met his again. “It’s not about the food.”

  His voice was low, and Joel felt hot all over. His mouth had suddenly gone dry. He told himself he was being ridiculous. The guy’s tone hadn’t even been suggestive. He was just talking quietly because he was being polite. Besides, he was a shifter. He couldn’t be flirting with Joel.

  He hoped his face wasn’t red. “Uh, sure. I guess—what’s it about?” he managed. Dammit, he’d managed whole sentences before, so why couldn’t he do that now? He looked at Claire, who was humming to herself as she rearranged the muffin display. Hopefully she was too focused on that to notice anything awkward going on.

  The blond leaned across the table, glancing at Claire before looking at Joel again. “I think it’s better to talk about it outside.”

  “Okay,” Joel said, too surprised by the guy’s sudden closeness. His brain kicked in a few seconds later. Wait, why did he want to talk outside?

  The blond smiled in a way that had Joel’s knees feel unsteady underneath him. “In front of the building?”

  “Sure.” He’d follow this guy to the moon if he kept smiling at Joel like that.

  “All right, see you there.” With that, the blond grabbed a sandwich and walked away again.

  Joel blinked, his heart still racing in his chest. What was going on? He had never reacted to a guy like this, and there had been plenty of cute and hot guys coming into Hampton’s Café. Why was this guy making Joel’s stomach flutter and his heart race?

  “What did he want to talk about?”

  He started at Claire’s voice. “What?” He hadn’t noticed the older woman sidling up to him.

  Claire was still looking at the door where the guy had left through. “Was it about the food? Did he have any complaints?”

  Of course she was worrying over that. “No. No, he just wanted to talk to me.”

  “I didn’t know you had friends at the event. It’s fine if you want to go and talk to him. I can manage on my own here for a few minutes.”

  “He’s not a friend.”

  Her eyebrows rose at that. “Oh?”

  His cheeks reddened. “I, um, I think he was flirting with me?” Although he couldn’t be. He was a shifter. Shifters didn’t flirt with humans. There had to be something else.

  Claire smiled. “Well, you know how I feel about flirting with our customers, but I guess this is a little different from working at the café. Like I said, if you want to go and talk to him for a few minutes, and exchange phone numbers or something, that’s fine. So long as you are back after a few minutes.”

  Joel nodded, still feeling flustered. “It won’t take long.” He removed his apron before walking out into the central hall.

  All he wanted to know was why the guy was so eager to talk to him. It had to be something besides flirting.

  The only other option made him feel like a fist had wrapped around his stomach. The guy knew about Joel and his parents. The thought was enough to make him freeze in the middle of the hall. His heart was pounding in his chest as he looked around, half-expecting someone to point to him and say, ‘there’s Joel Davies, the ungrateful runaway from Barnhill.’

  Nothing happened, and he made himself walk outside. If this guy knew about him, ignoring him wouldn’t make the problem go away. Maybe if he talked to the guy, he could convince him not to mention it to his parents.

  “There you are!” The blond was leaning against the wall next to the door, enjoying the sun. “Great sandwich, by the way.”

  “I’ll pass it on.” Joel stepped back as the guy moved closer. “What did you want to talk about?” He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans, trying not to look as nervous as he felt.

  “Anything,” the guy said, smiling. “But I’ll start with an introduction. Hi, I’m Thomas Rollins.” He held out his hand.

  Joel stared at him. Thomas Rollins. He remembered the name from looking into the local shifter council. This guy was the Keeper of the Peace.

  There hadn’t been any pictures of the council or the Keeper on the website that Joel had found, but he’d assumed that they would all be in their forties or older. This man looked like he was in his late twenties or early thirties.

  He was also still holding out his hand.

  Joel shook it, hoping he didn’t notice Joel’s sweaty palms. “Nice to meet you.”

  It made sense that a Keeper of the Peace was aware of some runaway from Barnhill. His parents or the shifter council from Barnhill had probably sent his name and photo to Keepers of the Peace in the area to keep an eye out for him. Still, even if this guy knew who Joel was, he still wasn’t going to confirm it by giving him his full name.

  Maybe he could play dumb and pretend he wasn’t Joel Davies. He hadn’t worn a name tag on his apron, since Claire had decided it wouldn’t be necessary.

  “Nice to meet you too.” Thomas frowned slightly as he released Joel’s hand.

  “Anything else you wanted to talk about?” Joel put a polite smile on his face and decided he would act like he’d never even heard of Barnhill if Thomas wanted to bring it up. His heart was racing, and part of him wanted to excuse himself and go back inside. But if he did, he’d never know how much Thomas knew.

  “Oh, plenty of things, like what your favorite movie is, or your favorite food, or your favorite, uh, anything really…” Thomas trailed off and Joel was surprised to see his cheeks flush as he coughed. “But I can’t stay here too long, I’ve got to go and mingle soon.”

  His answer only confused Joel more. Why would a Keeper want to know his favorite movie? Was he flirting? Maybe he didn’t know about Barnhill after all. The fist around his stomach started to loosen and it felt easier to breathe. “My boss wants me back soon too.”

  “Of course she does.” Thomas nodded in understanding. “Then I guess what I’d really like to talk about is wolves.”

  Joel stared at him, the fist around his stomach tighter than before. He knew. Thomas knew. “Wolves?” he managed, hoping he sounded surprised or confused. Anything but worried. “Why?”

  “I think you know why.” Thomas raised his eyebrows significantly. He gestured at the hall and the people walking around, chatting to each other. “You know what this event is for, right?”

  He didn’t really. He just knew it had something to do with the local shifter council, but he wasn’t going to tell Thomas that. “Sure, it’s for a charity.” His voice was trembling, dammit. He had to convince Thomas he didn’t know anything about shifters or wolves.

  Thomas was quiet for a moment as he looked at Joel. “How long have you been in Lewiston?”

  “My whole life,” he lied. If Thomas wanted to check if the timelines added up, Joel wasn’t going to help him do that. “Born and raised!”

  “No, you weren’t.” Thomas’ voice was firm.

  How did he know—oh no.

  He should’ve remembered, but he’d been too worried and nervous, and he hadn’t been around shifters in years. Dragon shifters were amazing at reading people, so good that some shifters thought they were telepathic. Of course Thomas knew Joel was lying. Great, his plan to play dumb wouldn’t work. What was he supposed to do now?

  “I’d like you to be honest with me.”

  Thomas sounded so
friendly, so kind, but Joel shook his head. He didn’t want to go back to Barnhill. He couldn’t. He had a life here, a job, friends, colleagues… He wasn’t going to let anyone take that away from him, no matter how nice they were being.

  “What’s wrong?” Thomas moved closer, putting a hand on Joel’s arm and sounding genuinely worried.

  Part of him wanted to tell Thomas everything. How his own family had treated him. How he’d been ignored and ostracized in his home town. How no one had cared about him as a teenager. He wanted to tell Thomas things he hadn’t told anyone, absolutely convinced that Thomas would understand, even help him.

  But he wouldn’t. He was a shifter, a Keeper of the Peace. He wouldn’t take Joel’s side.

  Joel stepped back, shrugging the hand off his arm and feeling unsettled. “I’m fine here,” he insisted. That was true, at least.

  “But what’s wrong?” Thomas’ eyes were concerned as he looked at Joel.

  He wished Thomas didn’t sound so worried. If he had sounded angry or demanding, Joel could’ve handled that. He was used to that from shifters. He wasn’t used to someone looking at him like Thomas was, as if nothing else in the world mattered. But Thomas couldn’t care about him, not like that.

  He had to get out of here. He needed a clear mind to think about how he was going to deal with this, and he couldn’t think while Thomas was looking at him like that. “Nothing, leave me alone!”

  Thomas’ mouth fell open, looking shocked as Joel hurried back inside. “I just wanted to—”

  Joel didn’t hear what he wanted, not over the noise of people chatting in the central hall. He headed for the men’s toilets, locking a cubicle behind him and leaning against the wall. If he went back to Claire right now, she would want to know why he was upset, and he wasn’t sure if he could handle her concern without breaking down. He closed his eyes, focusing on breathing in and breathing out.