While Moira had changed, her life remained nearly the same. She got assigned the same fluff articles and handed them in early so she could work on side projects that might never see the light of day. While this had felt like a grind before, Moira didn’t mind it now. She was on better terms with her editor. Approaching him was easier.
The article she’d written about Devin had earned a number of letters to the office, all raving about how they loved the piece. So, when Moira brought her editor something she’d written on the side, he listened. So far, he hadn’t published every piece, but a couple about the preservation of the nearby St. Lawrence River had made it into print.
When the clock hit five PM, she grabbed her things and raced to check out. A dark-haired man waited for her at the front door, often chatting with Judy—who’d taken a liking to him. Devin lit up like the sun when his eyes fell on Moira. Her heart fluttered, a sensation she’d thought would go away but hadn’t.
“Did you save the world today?” he asked in earnest.
Moira shook her head. “But I did put out a toaster fire in the break room. It’s not the same thing, but I count it as a good deed.”
“Did everyone think you were brave?”
She cackled. George had watched her reach through the hellish flames to unplug the toaster and served her with a wide-eyed stare, like he couldn’t think of anything to say. The fire hadn’t hurt. It wouldn’t now that she was a dragon shifter.
Not that anyone around the office would know. She never wrote a word about the pack of shifters she’d found, and she never would. If the video editor on floor two wondered why she’d emailed him, he never sought her out to ask. The story she’d thought would rocket her to an editorial position died.
Not just because she was a shifter now, too. The world didn’t need to know about shifters who were minding their own business and trying to live happy lives. Moira knew she needed to write about pollution and climate change, about new business laws and how they would affect small towns like theirs, things that mattered.
The tale of an ambitious reporter and a dragon shifter trying to live a normal life was a story better kept between the two of them.
“Atticus and Frankie invited us for dinner,” Devin said. “Do you want to fly over there quickly?”
Moira grinned. Okay, so maybe their lives weren’t as normal as she thought.
***
Devin watched his mate spread her wings wide. Dark scales glittered crimson. He brushed his cheek against hers and brought a purr out of her. She slapped his rear with her tail and leapt into the air, as if to say catch me.
He never thought he could be a happy man. The beast inside him had reached for everything. He realized now that the beast had been trying to fill a hole inside him. No amount of territory, money, or power could fill the emptiness.
Only one thing, one person, could make him feel whole. The beast no longer scrabbled to grasp everything around it. The creature was satisfied for once. He wished he’d known what the beast needed long ago, but he acknowledged that his life might not be the same if he’d rushed this relationship.
If he’d done anything differently, he might not be able to fly beside his mate. He wouldn’t be able to brush his wing against hers as he surpassed her. He landed, shifting before his feet touched the ground. When he turned back, a beast hurtled toward him. He feared her control wasn’t what he’d thought it was.
Moira shifted at the very last moment. She slammed into his arms and forced the air out of his lungs, sending them both crashing to the ground. While she laughed, Devin gulped down a mouthful of air.
The nearby door swung open and the two of them rushed to cover themselves, which only made them laugh harder. Atticus told them to get dressed and come inside.
They shook out the clothes they’d carried with them. Because of the colder temperatures, they wouldn’t find any bugs hiding in the folds of fabric, but his jeans were a little damp from a cloud he’d grazed.
When he looked up, Moira’s blouse clung to her chest. She pulled it away from her skin, and he could see her cheeks turn red even in the dark.
“I like the wet t-shirt look, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for a family dinner,” Devin said.
She stuck out her tongue. Wisps of steam curled away from her shoulders, her body growing hotter and hotter with dragon fire until the shirt dried. She shook out her fingers, as if that could banish the heat she’d summoned. Smoke slipped out from between her lips.
“I messed up,” she croaked. Flames lit the inside of her mouth.
Devin took her hands in his. Every day was a new lesson for his mate. “Go ahead and let it out. You can breathe the fire you summoned.”
She swallowed, hesitance written across her face.
“You can’t keep it inside,” he warned her. “You conjured too much. Let it out for now. We can work on controlling it better next time. Don’t think of this as a failure, but a learning experience.”
She turned away from him and belched, fire lighting up the dark for a brief moment. She gave him a wry smile when she turned back. He couldn’t help but laugh.
“Tell me I’m beautiful,” she asked with a smirk.
“You are absolutely gorgeous, and I lose my mind every time I see you.”
His words left her stunned. She opened her mouth several times, but just smiled up at him in the end. He grazed her cheek with his knuckles and leaned in for a kiss when the front door slammed open again.
“No breathing fire outside,” Crystal snapped. “If I’m not allowed to do it, you can’t do it either.”
Devin swallowed his laughter. “Aunt Moira is learning to control her fire. She had a small accident.”
“When I have an accident, Dad gets mad,” Crystal muttered.
Devin recalled her last accident and how his niece nearly set her tulle fort on fire. He could see why Atticus would get upset.
“Are you feeling better, Aunt Moira?” Crystal craned her neck to look up at Moira as they entered.
“I feel wonderful,” Moira told the little girl. “Now we both get to learn how to be dragons together. We’re going to be the best dragons.”
Crystal led Moira off by the hand. His mate flashed him a grin over her shoulder and sent his heart racing. He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve her, after how horrible he’d been.
Before Moira, Devin had felt like an interloper in this happy life. Whatever had been holding him back had eased away. He imagined Moira peeling away the fingers gripping his heart until he was free again. Now he could see the love in Atticus’s eyes and realized how he’d been a fool for mistaking it for mistrust.
“Frankie had to go lay down again,” Atticus explained, “so I finished making the pizza for her.”
“Whatever you made smells a million times better than anything I could make myself,” Devin noted, recalling the pizza he burnt before he and Moira were together.
“Don’t let him fool you,” Althea called from the kitchen.
“He had a lot of help,” Colton’s disembodied voice joined her.
Devin asked how many pizzas they made, because they were going to need a lot of food to feed four dragon shifters, two bear shifters, and a pregnant wolf shifter. Upon entering the kitchen, Devin found every surface holding a pizza. Some were already baked, but most were waiting to enter the oven.
Colton popped a piece of pepperoni into his mouth before tossing the bag to Devin.
He hesitated to snack on the offered topping, but Moira appeared behind him and snagged a piece.
“Don’t worry,” Althea said. “The cub and I made a trip to the store for extra supplies.”
Colton protested at being called a cub even though he was in his mid-twenties now. He gestured to Moira and claimed he wasn’t even the youngest shifter in the room. Technically, Moira was the newest to her beast but there was no name for a baby dragon. Nor would anyone call a dragon a baby.
Devin wound his arm around her. She leaned into hi
m and nipped his jaw.
He didn’t deserve any of this. Not the loving mate cradled in his arms, not the people gathered around and joking with him. Yet, they all welcomed him into their lives with ease. They didn’t see him as the asshole he’d been or the monster he believed himself to be. His past was done and gone. A new life opened before him and it was up to him to take the first steps forward.
He didn’t hesitate. Devin ran headlong into the joy waiting for him. Digging his fingers into the bag of pepperoni, he popped a stack of slices into his mouth before taking one and flinging it back at Colton. The sliced meat slapped Colton in the forehead and brought him to a complete standstill.
“Four oh’ four,” Althea said. “Bear shifter not found.”
Colton turned an unimpressed glare at her, not bothering to remove the slice of pepperoni. “No one’s going to understand your stupid computer joke.”
She raised a brow in challenge. “You did, cub.”
Devin laughed and fed another stack of pepperoni to his mate, who dragged her teeth over his fingers. While the plethora of pizzas baked, the group discussed how they were going to help Frankie through this pregnancy. Moira and Devin agreed to baby sit more often. Devin knew having two inexperienced dragons around the house would cost him a fortune, but he didn’t have anyone else he’d rather spend it on.
Together, they were stronger. Devin couldn’t believe how long it’d taken him to realize that he needed not only Moira, but his family and pack. It’d taken Moira to show him. While he regretted the way he’d treated her, he knew he had to face forward to have the life they wanted.
The future was theirs for the taking.
More Books By Emilia Hartley
Thank you!
If you enjoyed my writing, I’d like to invite you to sign up for my email list and receive book 1 of my Best-Selling Mountain Wolf Protectors Series FREE! Also, by signing up for my email list, you’ll be first to know when I release a brand-new book!
>> Get your free book here <<
Dragon Desire (Tooth & Claw Book 1) Page 14
