Rip? She recalled the dragon in the grove. Immediately, images of monsters tearing into one another filled her mind. Her heart stilled, suddenly frozen by fear. Then Devin’s hands curled inside hers, and the chill receded.
The world seemed to spin around him, all her thoughts stilling when she looked at him. His smile was soft and slight, like he wanted only her to see. She wanted to touch his cheek and make him smile wider for everyone to see.
Devin had mentioned that not everyone here liked him. She pulled her hand out of his and put it back on the hot Styrofoam cup. Maybe he was the only monster here. She couldn’t understand why she felt so at ease around a monster, though. She didn’t see the big dragon when she looked at him, only a lonely man who could make heat pool between her legs with a single look.
She didn’t get any more of those looks after pulling away from him, though. He straightened and turned away from her, even if he stayed by her side.
She noticed more people staring in their direction. The woman who’d greeted them outside the party kept an eye on Devin. A few others kept glancing their way. Moira wondered what they were waiting for. She’d thought Devin would be at home among these people, but it seemed even they feared him the way the rest of the town did.
The only person to push through the crowd and greet Devin with a smile was Frankie. No, that wasn’t the truth. Another small shape dove out from behind her mother’s legs and attached herself to Devin. Crystal greeted her uncle with glee, loud and filled with love.
Then, to Moira’s surprise, Crystal launched herself at Moira. She staggered. The kid was stronger than she looked. Devin grasped Moira’s arm before she fell. He moved faster than anyone had any right to move, but Moira didn’t care. She was just grateful to still be on her feet.
“Crystal,” Devin began, his voice soft and tender. “You can’t rush people like that. She wasn’t expecting a hug, and you startled her.”
Crystal muttered an apology and peeled away from Moira’s legs. When the little girl looked up, she asked, “Have you come here to be my auntie? Uncle Devo needs a mate. He’s lonely and it makes him ugly.”
Moira laughed at the child’s choice of words. She turned to Devin. “Do you hear that? If you don’t find a girlfriend, you’re going to be ugly.”
But Crystal hadn’t said girlfriend. She’d said mate. Moira wasn’t sure what that meant, but she remembered Devin’s slit pupils while they were making out. The dragon had the same eyes. Devin was an animal.
Frankie interrupted them. “My husband is waiting in the office for your interview. Go ahead and meet him inside.”
“Great!” Moira said, sidestepping Crystal and Devin.
She thought she heard a growl, but when she turned, Devin was talking to Frankie. The family was close, that much was apparent. Moira admired their love for one another. She couldn’t have anything like that in her life. Not while she was a lowly reporter.
Moira did dumb things for her job, like running through the woods after mysterious shadows. She couldn’t ask someone to put up with that. She’d always thought she would find a boyfriend once she got an editorial position and her life calmed down, but the years had stretched on, and she hadn’t gotten a promotion.
The interview with Atticus wouldn’t get her any special favor at the office, but the footage of Devin as a dragon might. But if she wrote that article, Moira thought she might lose the chance for something better.
Was there a place for her here? Did she want to pull Devin closer? She didn’t even know if he would let her. Devin was so determined to remain single that she could do everything in her power to keep him and still fail. She couldn’t claim a man that didn’t want her back.
She touched the phone in her pocket. Maybe it would be better to run the story and get the editorial promotion. Then she could focus on her life. She could work for the things she missed, like family and love.
The door to the office building opened easily. Atticus sat at a desk, his feet up as he flicked through something on his phone. To one side, there was a patch of wall that was slightly discolored, a bit brighter than the rest. It looked wrong, like it’d been painted over, but they hadn’t matched the paint very well.
“Great! You came to the party!” Atticus set down his phone and threw his feet to the floor.
Moira held out her hand and pulled her spine straight. Her back protested at the too perfect posture. Atticus directed her to a seat across from his desk.
“Are you borrowing someone else’s desk?” she asked.
“Nope. This is mine. I like to work alongside my employees. Sometimes they even let me touch the heavy equipment.” He laughed at himself.
She could see why Frankie loved him. Atticus seemed easy going and approachable. Unlike his cousin, who was clearly doing his best to push everyone away. Not that Devin’s aura affected Moira. She seemed to be immune to it. Even now that she knew what he was. In her mind, he was still Devin, still a man with a tender touch and a need to be touched in return.
“So, my cousin,” Atticus began once he seated himself.
Moira opened her mouth to ask what Devin had to do with anything, but Atticus went on.
“How do you feel about him? I’ve noticed that the two of you seem to get on well.”
“I thought this was an interview for the newspaper. If you don’t mind, could I ask you a few questions about your relationship with your employees?” She wasn’t going to get an article out of this interview. She could already tell that Atticus had an ulterior motive.
“I think you can see that my employees love their jobs. I’ve done my best to give them access to all the best resources, from paid sick time off to affordable healthcare.” Atticus leaned forward and grinned. “But back to you and my cousin. The two of you would be great together. Try to consider your options. He’s a good man even if he seems a bit prickly on the outside.”
Moira gritted her teeth and breathed through her nose. The VanTassel family were the ones who contacted her place of work to write the article. Now they wanted to push her into Devin’s arms? While she couldn’t deny her attraction to him, she didn’t like the way Atticus pushed her.
She stood and turned toward the exit.
Atticus caught her before she left. “I don’t mean to be pushy. Devin is my family, and he means a lot to me. Frankie and I watch him deny himself every day. He could be happy if only he let himself. We see how he is with you. I just thought that maybe you could make each other happy.”
“I appreciate your kindness toward your cousin, but I’m not going to date a man just because someone told me to. You could offer me all the money in the world, and I’m still not going to do it.” If Moira wanted Devin, she would take him.
She just…had to think about it first. She’d discovered more than she’d meant to, and while it didn’t bother her as much as it should, she still had her career to think about. Money didn’t push her. Moira wanted the world to think about the problems around them. She wanted to use her career to push her community into action.
After she shrugged off Atticus, she found Devin waiting outside. Parked by the door, Devin could have overheard everything that went on inside. Her cheeks warmed, but he didn’t say anything.
“Was Atticus a prick?” Devin asked as they descended the concrete steps. “He can be kind of a dick sometimes.”
“No, not at all. He just…didn’t have anything that would make for a good story,” she lied.
Devin huffed a laugh. “You mean he was boring? He can be pretty vanilla. He even looks vanilla with all that white hair.”
She nudged him with her elbow. Devin shot her a secret smile.
Moira thought her time at the party might be running out. She didn’t belong here. She didn’t know any of the people casting stares in their direction, or how she was supposed to infiltrate their ranks. Any other day, she might have had the energy to smile and pretend like she belonged. The day had drained her.
From discovering that Devi
n could turn into a dragon—hell, that people could turn into dragons—to Atticus’s insistence that she date Devin, Moira just wanted a moment of peace to digest everything that’d happened.
Instead, Devin took her hand and the world stilled.
“Let’s see if we can kick someone off the pong table,” he said with a note of anticipation in his voice.
He tugged her through the crowd and stopped at the edge of a circle around a plastic folding table. Devin loomed behind the team throwing balls and their shots started to go wide, missing almost every time. The team glanced back at Devin, who turned his malevolent aura to max.
“At this rate,” she whispered to him, “no one will want to play against us. Turn it down so someone will stay and play.”
Devin wrinkled his nose but rocked back on his heels. He didn’t take his hand from hers, and she didn’t pull back. Atticus wanted her to give Devin a chance. She wanted to write the article that would expose Devin for a monster. The two worlds couldn’t collide, and yet she didn’t pull away from him either.
She waited for the game of beer pong to end and the teams to switch out. The players who’d been there before drifted away, just like Moira thought. To her surprise, a couple of familiar faces stepped up to the other end of the table.
“You’re going down,” Colton snarled.
Atticus said nothing but had a sharp-toothed grin of challenge on his lips.
Devin placed both hands on the table and leaned forward. “The only reason Atticus has you on his side is because his star partner can’t drink right now. You’re not half as good as your sister.”
“And I’m not half the monster you are,” Colton shot back.
Devin laughed, even though the words had been barbed. Moira glanced between them and wondered what made them circle each other like snarling dogs. Colton’s eyes found her every now and then. While Atticus seemed in a good mood despite how Moira had turned his request down, Colton crackled with tension.
Every time Colton looked her way, Devin inched closer to her as if he could be a shield against Colton’s anger. Tired of their game, she raised the little plastic ping-pong ball and tossed it at Colton’s face. When it bounced off Colton’s forehead, Moira feigned regret and gave him a half-hearted apology.
She didn’t expect it to work, but when the ball circled the rim of a cup and finally fell into the golden liquid inside, Colton guffawed. A small smile curled his lips, almost as if he fought against it and lost.
“Oh, man,” said the dark-haired shifter who had ogled her when she and Devin were with Althea by the cocoa. “I don’t think she’s ever played a game in her life, and she’s already leagues ahead of you!”
“Shut up, Mac,” Colton said before chugging the contents of the cup. He slammed it onto the table and wiped at his lips with the back of his hand before meeting her with an intense stare. “This means war.”
Mac was right. Moira had never played beer pong before, but she found she wasn’t all that bad at it. The men seemed to be naturals, but she suspected that was due to practice. The plastic table they played at had all sorts of things drawn on it and enough scuffing that she could imagine the hundreds of times it’d been pulled out of storage, dragged to the party, and set up. She’d never come across a company that played beer pong at corporate parties, but she wasn’t about to complain.
She took off her coat and set it aside as the air around her grew too hot. Atticus and Colton landed two throws. Both Moira and Devin threw back their cups, racing to see who could chug faster. Moira’s chug ended in a fit of laughter that nearly brought the beer up to her nose. She clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.
“I think someone has had enough to drink,” Devin said softly.
Moira waved him off. All she had was a comfortable buzz. She didn’t feel drunk until she took a step forward and the world tilted. Devin caught her as she pitched. She gripped his arm and tried to recall how many drinks she’d downed.
“Alright,” Devin said. “We concede. My partner lost by sheer drunkenness.”
She thought he would be mad at her, but she heard the laughter in his voice. He lifted her from the ground and made the world swirl again. She mumbled something about her jacket, and it appeared through the crowd. Frankie was the one to set it over Moira.
Moira tried to stay awake, but in the warmth of Devin’s arms, she dozed off. When she woke, she and Devin were at her car. He cradled her with one arm. How he had the strength to hold her like that, she didn’t know. Perhaps it had something to do with the dragon he kept inside his skin.
With the other hand, Devin rummaged through her coat pocket for her keys. Moira sleepily found them and presented them to her companion. Devin chuckled, unlocked the car with the fob, and stepped around to the passenger side.
“What are you doing?” Moira mumbled.
“I’m taking you home. You can’t sleep this off in the middle of a field.” He bent and placed her in the passenger seat.
When he reached across her to buckle her seatbelt, his face passed close to hers. She leaned forward to kiss him but forced herself back. Devin wouldn’t want to kiss a drunken mess. Her breath probably smelled of hot beer. No one wanted to deal with that. Devin wouldn’t want to kiss her, not after today.
Not when she’d filmed him changing shape in the woods. She opened her mouth to confess what she’d done, but Devin was already gone. He jogged around the front of the car to reach the driver’s seat. By the time he sat down, she’d buried the secret deep once more.
“What about your car?” she asked. “How are you going to get home if you take my car?”
He raised a brow as he gave her a sidelong glance. “I’ll get home just fine.”
Oh. Right. His dragon form had wings.
Moira didn’t know how no one had ever noticed the massive black beast flying over town before, but she assumed Devin had done his best to stay far away from the town. He hid away from everyone and lost every chance to meet people who could make his life better.
She reached across the console and took his hand in hers. She gave it a squeeze and heard his breath hitch.
“Colton doesn’t trust you,” Moira said.
“He has his reasons. I understand why he hates me.” Devin pulled his hand from hers.
“I didn’t say he hated you.” Moira pursed her lips. “He just watches you like you’re going to bite him. You know, like when you go into a new house, and the family dog isn’t quite sure of you?”
Devin laughed. “Colton is very protective of his sister even though he’s younger. I hurt Frankie once and while she’s forgiven me, Colton probably never will. I was dumb and made some horrid decisions when Frankie entered my life.”
“You’re not that person anymore. If Frankie has forgiven you, it’s most likely because you’ve changed. She can tell that you’ve turned over a new leaf.”
Devin sighed. “I wish that was true. I’m not sure if I’m capable of change. There’s a lot about me you wouldn’t understand. It’s best if this is the last time you see me.”
She sat up, enraged. “Stop treating yourself like you’re a damn monster. You’re a…a man!” Moira remembered, partway, that Devin wasn’t just a man.
He was more. The dragon didn’t make him less, not in her eyes. It should have scared her, but she saw the pain that deepened the lines in Devin’s face. He kept his distance because he feared himself.
“You wouldn’t understand,” Devin said, his voice low and mournful.
She snorted then caught herself and slapped her hand over her mouth. Oh, she understood pretty well. She didn’t know what happened between him and Frankie, but if Frankie had forgiven him then he should do so, too.
After minutes of silence, Moira sat up and peered out the window. They were on the wrong side of town from her house. Devin took a turn that wouldn’t lead them in the right direction, and Moira laughed.
“You’re just driving around in circles! You have no clue where I li
ve, do you?”
“It would be a little strange if I knew where you lived,” Devin noted. He scratched the back of his head. “I should have asked, but I was enjoying your company. I’m sorry.”
Moira directed him toward her house, unable to stop grinning. If she weren’t such a mess, she would have kissed him good night. Sweat had dried on her skin, her hair had gone wild, and even she couldn’t stand the smell of her own yeasty breath.
Devin wouldn’t want to kiss her. Especially if he knew what she had in her pocket. She carried his secret with her, in a form that she could easily share with the world. All she had to do was share it with one person. From there, it would spiral out of control on the internet.
Her pocket felt heavy with the damning evidence. Moira’s heart tugged her in two directions. Devin lingered in the driver’s seat, looking mournful and lost. The other half of her heart whispered promises of promotions.
Moira hated herself. She lurched out of the car and felt her stomach heave. It would serve her right if she spilled her guts onto the lawn.
When her stomach settled, she stood and faced Devin. He’d shoved his hands into his pockets and had already turned away. She couldn’t believe he was leaving already. Their time together never seemed long enough, but she couldn’t bring herself to grab him and drag him back.
Moira let him walk away because she knew she didn’t deserve him.
Chapter Six
Moira had seen something unthinkable. A dragon had turned into a man. Not just any man, but one she had slept with in the past, the man she was supposed to write an article about. She threw herself onto her bed, body exhausted after the party, and pulled out her phone.
As she watched the big, black beast turn into a familiar face, she thought of all the amazing people she’d met earlier. They’d filled her with hot cocoa, and no one had laughed at her when she learned how to play beer pong. She wondered if they were all like Devin, or if he was a single monster hiding among innocent people.
Dragon Desire (Tooth & Claw Book 1) Page 5
