Dragon Desire (Tooth & Claw Book 1)

by Emilia Hartley

  “Crystal Marie!” Atticus warned.

  The fire licked the tulle above Devin’s head and began eating away at the plastic fabric. Devin sighed and slapped the fire out before it could become something bigger.

  Crystal pouted, the spitting image of an insincere apology. Atticus knelt in front of his daughter and took her hands. Raising a young dragon couldn’t have been easy. Devin could barely remember the days when they’d been that young.

  They’d been brought up by their grandmother, a human woman. She’d ruled with an iron hand, but Devin realized now that it’d been necessary. When she had two young boys spewing fire all over the place, what else was she supposed to do?

  Atticus could pull his daughter into his arms and talk to her about what she’d done, but no human could do that. Crystal’s skin would burn with the fire sparking inside her now. She’d be too hot to touch.

  Just another reason he couldn’t be with Moira. Her children would be dragons, too dangerous to shower with love when her skin would blister in the heat of their flames. Devin would have to be careful with her for the rest of their lives, careful to keep from burning her or breaking her.

  It was for the best that they’d parted ways.

  Atticus helped Crystal into bed. Once the lights went out, he joined Devin in the hall and clapped him in the back.

  “I heard about your mate. You should try talking to her, though,” Atticus said.

  “Don’t start. Your wife talked to Moira for two hours while I hid in the princess fort.”

  Atticus couldn’t hide his smile or his laughter and eventually broke down. In the end, Atticus wiped tears from his face while Devin glared at him. Atticus clamped his hand on Devin shoulder and directed him down the hall, away from Crystal’s bedroom.

  Despite the fact that Atticus was laughing at Devin, this was the first time in a long while that he felt close to his cousin. They’d been raised like brothers until their beasts pushed them apart. Namely, Devin’s greedy beast.

  The thing inside him had wanted power and territory at any cost. Now, all it wanted was the woman who’d betrayed them. He missed the way she felt in his arms and the smiles she gave him when they were surrounded by family. Hope had left him floating on a cloud until that morning. Until her betrayal sent him plummeting to the earth.

  “She’s an outsider,” Atticus said once they were away from his daughter’s bedroom. “As the clan leader, I have to preface this with a warning. You should be careful moving forward. Pack and clan always come first. There are a lot of lives that could be ruined if word of what we are got out.”

  Devin knew all this already. He clenched his jaw so hard he thought he could feel particles of his teeth grating away to dust on his tongue.

  “That said, I have never seen you happier. For a weekend, you stopped being miserable. You stopped taking it out on those around you. If this woman can make your life better, then I’m willing to take this risk,” Atticus finished. He looked his cousin in the eye and squeezed his shoulder.

  Devin turned away. The weight of the pack’s safety sat on his shoulders and pressed him into the earth. He couldn’t move forward. Not when the pack already thought of him as the betrayer. Devin wanted to show them he could be a protector. While they expected him to fail, he would stand firm.

  Even if it broke his heart.

  “I’ve got to go,” Devin mumbled.

  He needed to get back to his cavern basement. The last time he locked himself inside, right after he’d kicked Moira out, the beast had been tempted to destroy everything just to get to her. Never before had the beast wanted to break down the door and burst through the walls of his house. The beast’s disregard for his own territory had taken Devin by surprise.

  Somehow, he’d managed to dig his claws into the earth and keep the beast from ruining the only roof over his head. But with keys in hand, Devin’s only thought was of Moira. He wondered what she was doing, if she cried over what she’d done, and if he could console her. That shouldn’t have been his concern. She’d taken the steps to expose him, and therefore the pack.

  Devin needed to forget about her.

  The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He whipped around to find Atticus and Frankie watching him from a window.

  “Go to bed!” he snarled at them.

  They laughed at him and shut the window. Frankie and Atticus wanted him to give Moira another chance, but he couldn’t fathom why. Perhaps they had taken chances in the past, but none felt so dangerous as this. While Moira deleted the video of his shift in front of him, he didn’t know how many other copies of it she’d saved. Technology made everything harder to erase.

  He couldn’t grab it and rip it up like an old photo. He couldn’t burn her phone to cinders and hope it hadn’t connected to any other phone. He was left with incomplete information and a complete inability to confront her on it. The thought of seeing her again sent his heart into overdrive. It riled up the beast curled inside him.

  If he faced her again, he didn’t know what he would do. The temptation to forgive her was too strong. Moira was the other half of his heart, a cruel trick fate had played on him to make him pay for what he’d done.

  Chapter Twelve

  Moira had dreamt about Devin the night before. Her brain had replayed the last night they spent together, torturing Moira with every detail. She’d thought, that night, they would spend the rest of their lives together. It’d been a rather romantic notion, but one she’d clung to, nonetheless.

  In the matter of a couple of hours, it all came crashing down around her head. She’d thought the hunter’s break-in would be the worst thing to happen. She should have known her ambition would bite her in the ass.

  Now, Moira sat at her desk, working on an article that she’d promised would be finished the day before. Her editor wasn’t happy. This might be the end of her job, but she knew she was doing the right thing. All Moira had ever wanted to do was inform the people. She wanted them to understand the truth of the world around them.

  Everyone she’d met misunderstood Devin VanTassel. They assumed he was a horrible man, a dark enigma they needed to avoid. Finally, Moira was doing the right thing.

  And when her job fell apart in her hands, she could always fall back on babysitting for Frankie and Atticus. Now that she knew what they were, Moira understood why Frankie had insisted Moira wasn’t ready.

  A smile touched Moira’s lips as she thought about Crystal, the too-smart child. While she was distracted, her editor sidled up to her desk. He pulled a nearby chair up and sat down across from her. Despite the fact that she knew she was sabotaging her job, her heart still thumped nervously.

  “I think it’s time for a real talk,” the editor began, his lips pressed into a grim line.

  She waited for him to tell her to give up, for him to pass her another fluff piece she could write up quickly. The editor didn’t understand what she was trying to do or how much it meant to her. She hadn’t said anything because she feared he would scoff at her. Who wanted to read about how she’d fallen in love with the local monster?

  “Clearly, this assignment has become a conflict of interest. I saw that you originally had one interview scheduled with Mr. VanTassel, but you ended up meeting him on three separate occasions. There’s even a rumor around the office that you met a fourth time, for a date.” The editor fixed her with a look she couldn’t decipher.

  “I thought I could find a bigger story if I spent a little more time with him,” Moira confessed. She fiddled with a paperclip on her desk, bending it back and forth, back and forth, until it snapped.

  When she looked up, her editor wasn’t scowling. He smiled, instead, practically glowing.

  “But you fell for him,” the editor. “And now you don’t know how to write the given assignment. I understand.”

  Moira waited for a caveat, for the editor to scold her for mixing business with pleasure. That never came.

  “Don’t worry about the dating profile,” th
e editor said. “I can see that you’re working on something, though. Tell me about this. Help me understand how we’re going to print it.”

  “You don’t even know what it’s about. I could be writing about giant monsters storming cities for all you know.” Concern had pinched Moira for a while. There would always be a chance that the editor wouldn’t want to print the article she’d been working on.

  “You’re not the most emotional writer in the office, but I can see that something has you riled up. I’d like to think that it’s love. If Devin VanTassel can inspire passion in you, then I want the world to know.”

  Moira’s brows furrowed for a split-second at the underhanded compliment. She’d been so focused on her job, though. For years, all she’d wanted was the promotion. She’d wanted authority and prestige, as if that might make her feel whole. To get there, Moira had shut down a part of herself. That was what led to even considering leaking Devin’s secret. Without empathy, she’d trodden down dubious paths.

  With a nod, she got out of her seat and gestured to it. The editor leapt out of his commandeered chair and stole hers, his eyes already scrolling across the screen. Little by little, his smile split into a grin. Her cheeks warmed. Moira wanted to be anywhere but there. Yet, she got the approval to run the story as long as she could finish it by the end of the day.

  For the first time in years, her hands trembled with excitement. She took her chair back and threw herself into writing. Her fingers flew across the keyboard and the background fell away while she slipped into the few days she’d gotten to share with Devin.

  By the end of the day, her knuckles ached. To get the story to the printer on time, she spent the rest of the evening editing and formatting it with her boss. Moira didn’t step outside until the dark had consumed the world.

  She looked up at the sky and imagined Devin’s black scales glittering like the stars above. He could be over her head and she wouldn’t have even known. His form would have blended into the dark sky. As much as Moira wanted to believe that he would come to check up on her, she knew he was far, far away.

  She’d driven a wedge between them. What could have been her own happily ever after slipped through her fingers because of what she’d done. Sure, Moira could move forward with a new attitude and more empathy, but getting Devin back seemed impossible.

  The article she’d written would help others see Devin as the man he really was, but she didn’t expect it to help him see how much she loved him. Moira told herself that was enough. She would have to settle for that, because she couldn’t undo the harm she’d already inflicted.

  “You did good work,” her editor said.

  Moira startled and spun to find him locking the door behind them. She hadn’t realized how long she’d been standing in the same place, staring at the sky.

  “Come by in the morning,” he said. “Grab a copy of the paper and go see him. I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but I think he’d like to see the article.”

  Moira shook her head. Devin didn’t want to see her. He’d made that clear.

  ***

  Crouched on the building above, Devin watched the conversation below. He told the beast to stop following her, but every time he let it out, the creature hunted her down. Unless he took to the basement, Devin was powerless to stop his dragon. He told himself it was for her safety, that all he wanted was to make sure Moira was okay.

  Maybe he couldn’t let her into his life, and he couldn’t be a part of hers, but he could make sure no one hurt her. He swallowed his growl as the man beside her stepped closer. Devin shouldn’t be there. Moira would move on, and if he had to watch, then his beast would lose its mind.

  He stood and spread his wings wide before he could hear anything they said to one another. It was better to not know. As long as he stayed ignorant, his beast could believe that nothing had changed.

  The beast wouldn’t burrow now. Not as long as it knew Moira was somewhere out there. Devin had to put more locks and barriers on the basement door. If he didn’t, the beast would break it down and seek her out every night. He would get no rest.

  Frankie and Atticus wanted him to give Moira a chance, but it seemed she’d already moved on. Even if he thought he could trust her again, Moira hadn’t waited even a week. Once again, Devin was reminded of the price he now paid. Every horrible thing he’d done in the past had caught up to him.

  Karma was a bitch.

  Devin landed outside Frankie and Atticus’s home instead of his own. He hadn’t noticed when his beast had redirected his flight and wondered why he was here until sound filtered through the windows. Laughter and warmth reached him, easing a bit of the ache building inside his chest.

  The door opened, spilling light out into the dark night for a second. Then, it closed, and a figure approached Devin. Atticus almost glowed in the night, his white hair and fair skin nearly incandescent. Winter gave Atticus the chance to prowl unseen, the same way Devin favored the night.

  “Have you gone feral?” Atticus asked, a note of unease sneaking into his voice.

  Devin snarled softly. Atticus’s only reply was a sigh as he sat on the ground across from Devin. The great, black dragon loomed over Atticus, but he didn’t seem to mind.

  “I slept because I felt like I had nothing,” Atticus said. “Nothing more than the ground under my feet. Sleeping seemed like the easy choice when there’s nothing to keep you awake. You won’t sleep, though. I can’t help you find peace. That’s on you. All I can do is remind you that peace might be only a few words away.”

  Atticus wanted Devin to apologize to Moira. A few times over the past days, Devin wondered if he had overreacted. Then, when he saw how weak Frankie had grown, Devin knew he’d made the right choice. If he blurred the lines for his own happiness, then there would be a price to pay. He’d learned that the hard way, in ways that Atticus hadn’t.

  His cousin was right. Sleep was the easy option, but no slumber would be found so long as this frantic energy crackled around Devin’s heart. He wanted to snap at Atticus. Everything had been easy for Atticus. His dragon’s decision to burrow had surprised everyone.

  If Devin turned feral tonight, no one would be surprised. Colton would say he told everyone this would happen. Althea would shake her head and go back to helping everyone but Devin. Sometimes, the loneliness that crept in at the edges of Devin’s awareness was worse than the moment he realized Moira had betrayed him.

  In his dragon form, Devin couldn’t explain any of this to Atticus. He wasn’t even sure Atticus would understand. The beast came here to ease the pain gripping Devin’s heart, but this wasn’t where he would find comfort. No one had any to offer for a monster like him.

  Devin turned and swished his tail. Atticus called out after him, but Devin had already entered the woods. The forest crackled satisfyingly under his feet. The snap of tree branches when he flicked his tail gave him a small release.

  We need her, the beast whispered.

  But Devin could never have what he needed.

  He staggered through the woods, wrangling the beast inside him, until he saw his own home appear. Everything in him screamed in distress, but he somehow managed to pull the beast back. On human feet, he slipped through the house in the dark. He didn’t go upstairs to the sheets that still smelled like Moira because the memory hurt too much.

  Devin went to the basement, to the dark cavern hollowed out of the ground. The cool air prickled his skin. He collapsed onto the bed he’d brought down. This was where he’d lived since kicking Moira out. Everything else reminded him of her.

  If he thought he could escape her, he’d been foolish. The beast held her in his heart. She was always on his mind.

  In the morning, Devin would buy better locks for the basement door. He would keep himself where he couldn’t follow her around, where he wouldn’t torment anyone else. If his beast went feral, then so be it. The feral monster would be kept here, under the ground as if it had burrowed.

  Chapte
r Thirteen

  Moira told her boss that she wouldn’t come by work early to get a copy of the newspaper, but she’d gotten up hours before the sun. Restlessness singing in her veins, Moira made a carafe of coffee and poured half of it into a travel mug before heading out.

  No one said anything when she got to work. Her editor grinned, but then turned away and went back to his own business. A candid shot of Devin, smiling and happy, graced the front page. Frankie had sent it to them, and since they had Devin’s permission to use his likeness for the dating profile, they’d used the photo. Moira bit her lip as she lifted the paper. She ran a finger along the jaw she wished she could touch.

  Without lingering on her broken heart, she tucked the paper into her purse and ran back to her car. Her chest was tight with anxiety and apprehension. A story unfolded in the back of her mind, where she showed Devin the article and he took her back with open arms. She imagined him carrying her back to his bed where they would stay for days.

  Moira chugged her bitter coffee and let it wash away the hope trying to grow inside her. If she held onto it, her heart would break all over again. All she could do was give the paper to Devin. She couldn’t erase what she’d done.

  A broken heart didn’t always listen to apologies, certainly not with reason. She understood that. Maybe time would ease the sting, but she didn’t know if dragon shifters held onto grudges like hoarded gold.

  The house was dark. Not a single light glimmered inside even though the sun had barely peeked over the horizon. She hesitated, gripping her purse with shaking hands. This would be the first time she saw him since he kicked her out.

  Since she watched him retreat into the basement. She didn’t know what was down there, only that his howls tormented her dreams. That sound of pain was because of her. Then night before he found the footage, Devin had asked her to stay with him.