“Is that your problem? You’re bitter because you were left alone with Griffin? He’s not that bad. Maybe a little boring, but everyone likes white milk.”
Griffin shouted from his cabin that he could hear them. Maybe if the other recluse left his hovel, then they’d stand a chance against their king. Maybe they’d be able to convince Jasper that their income relied on him.
The bank kept money flowing not only through Grove, but into the Drake bank accounts. Each dragon profited from the business. If they let it die, then that money would stop flowing. Their reserves would dwindle until they had nothing but their own scales. Ashton didn’t think the Drakes would mind. They were each so caught up in their own worlds they couldn’t see past their muzzles.
They weren’t thinking of the town or the people that lived there. Ashton was doing his best to save it all, but no one was making it easy. His beast squirmed beneath his skin. It was ready to resort to violence, beating the sense into their king.
“We’re your court, whether you like it or not,” Ashton told Jasper. “When are you going to start listening to our counsel?”
Jasper clutched the sides of his head. “When I stop having to listen to the damned voice in my head. When everyone is willing to give me a little bit of peace and quiet!”
Ashton hadn’t expected that answer. He remembered the look in the gold dragon’s eyes when he first ran into Jasper’s beast. There had been a look of sentience, but Ashton never considered there would be a second voice. As far as Ashton knew, the beasts were mostly instincts. They were desires and impulses, never thoughts or voices.
For the first time, Ashton wondered if they could save their king. What would the mountain do without a gold dragon? It was unheard of for their mountain to be ruled by anything else, but if they couldn’t save Jasper’s mind, they would have no king at all.
Jasper snatched the file folder off the table and stormed back up the stairs. The conversation as over. Jasper had gone in search of the peace and quiet he desired. Ashton didn’t dare follow. Instead, he fought back the snarl on his lips and found Griffin.
The second eldest cousin should have been watching over Jasper. He should have called the Drakes home earlier. Griffin wasn’t doing his job, and Ashton was going to call him out on it.
The silver dragon was chopping wood. He threw his back into it, muscles straining with the force of the ax in his hands. Ashton felt bad for the wood. Griffin clearly had a vendetta against it.
“Go back to your mate,” Griffin snapped.
“Wow, that was a little more than venomous. I thought you were a dragon, not a snake.”
“Ha. Ha.” Griffin dropped the ax and faced his cousin. The man looked like a Viking hero from Norse mythology. Ashton waited for Thor himself to come down and bless his silver head.
“I would tell you to shove your attitude up your ass, but it seems like you already have a stick up it,” Ashton began.
Griffin was in front of him before he could go on. The silver dragon snarled. “If I seem pissed off, it’s because you all left me with that lunatic!” He flung his hand toward the manor where Jasper hid from them.
Ashton’s lip curled. “Yell at the others. I’ve been taking care of the bank that funds your bank accounts. Without me, all of you would have been out of money years ago.”
They stared one another down. Their pride and fury sparked in the air. Muscles twitched. Ashton thought it would come down to a physical fight. He was prepared for one, but Griffin turned away. He shook that beautiful head of his, hair now bound in a single plait.
“You’re too damn pretty. It hurts my eyes.”
“And you look like a boy pretending to be a man,” Griffin countered.
The mood lightened significantly, the air no longer charged with violent potential. Ashton let out a breath.
“I didn’t come home to find a mate,” Ashton confessed. Griffin already knew part of why Ashton had come home, but he didn’t know the whole story. “The city was destroying me. My dragon has been getting harder and harder to control. If I hadn’t been called back, I would have eventually exposed dragons.”
Griffin stopped where he was. His head fell back, and he studied the sky above while his back was to Ashton. Silence filled the air. Ashton thought his cousin wouldn’t reply, basically brushing off Ashton’s troubles.
“I don’t care,” Griffin said finally. “You got to leave, but I’m trapped here. Jasper is my only duty. You all made that choice for me when you left.”
Ashton’s chest seized. His breath felt like a time-bomb. Instead of releasing it, he left. Griffin was clearly in no mood to talk. It made Ashton wonder if his time had been well spent at all. Had he even accomplished anything in his visit? Jasper was still hiding from him. Griffin was dealing with a grudge.
They were in shambles and Ashton couldn’t fix it on his own. His beast squirmed beneath his skin. Stress wasn’t helping. The dragon wanted to take to the sky. It wanted to find Makenna. Urges slammed into him all at once. His breath came hard.
He couldn’t do this alone.
He couldn’t fix anything.
Everything was going to fail.
The beast broke free of his skin. Wings slapped the air as he launched himself from the ground. The air screamed in his ears, but it did nothing to drown the fear gripping his soul. Fire burned in the back of his throat, but Ashton had enough presence of mind to swallow it back. It hurt like nothing he’d felt before, but the mountain didn’t deserve his wrath. He would tuck it down until he could find Makenna.
He swerved away from town. Makenna was working. He couldn’t drop into her life over and over, begging her to fix his problems. The beast didn’t agree, fighting against Ashton’s decisions until he wavered in the sky.
***
“Have you gotten to hold that fine booty yet?” Old Georgia asked Makenna as she poured a fresh cup of coffee. The old woman didn’t even try to keep her voice down. Heads twisted to listen in on their conversation, all eyes suddenly on them. “I can tell from that look on your face that you have! Was it as good as you remember? I remember the two of you when you were younger. It was obvious even then that you were meant for each other.”
Makenna was about to reproach Old Georgia when Mr. Chen slapped his paper onto the table.
“Leave the girl alone,” he cried out. “If you’re so starved for romance, pick up a book.”
Old Georgia raised a brow. “How about I pick you up?”
Makenna caught the surprise on Old Georgia’s face. It was clear the woman hadn’t meant to blurt out anything like that.
“We’re too old for that kind of cavorting,” Mr. Chen retorted.
“Ah, but we’re not too old for romance. Are we?”
He paused. Her words sank in. Makenna didn’t know what to do. She slowly backed away from the table while the two elderly patrons considered their love lives. Old Georgia had been after Mr. Chen for a long time. Makenna was honestly proud that the woman had finally gotten the courage to ask him out.
She wanted to stay and watch for the outcome, but the cook called her name. He was waving the diner phone in the air when she turned. Her stomach flipped. No one called her at work. Her first thought was bill collectors.
If they started hunting her at her jobs, she could lose them all and any hope she had of paying off the debt. She mentally catalogued her bills as she took the phone, trying to find the late bill that could have gone to a collector. The voice on the other end was unexpected.
“I thought I should tell you that your boyfriend is having a fit near Kimbley Park.”
“Griffin?” At the mention of one of the Drake boys, the cook threw a glance in her direction. She lowered her voice and turned away from her co-workers. “What are you talking about?”
“Ashton came to harass Jasper and me this morning. I’m guessing things didn’t go the way he expected because he shifted not long after leaving. Last I saw, he was brooding on a cliff hear Kimbley Park. You sho
uld fetch him and get him to shift back.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “If he shifted, that’s his decision.”
Griffin sighed. “I don’t think it was his decision.”
Makenna hung up. Ashton had promised her he would do better. He’d told her that the changes weren’t uncontrolled anymore. She felt torn between her old life and her new one. While she felt the need to run to Ashton, heavy weights rooted her feet to the spot. She needed these hours.
When she looked up, everyone was gathered in the kitchen. Her fellow waitresses, the cook, and the manager. They offered to cover her shift. The manager even told her the time she took to get Ashton would be paid.
“They’re the heart of Grove,” the manager said. “It’s the least we can do for them. For you.”
She thanked them all, throwing her arms around her manager’s neck before snatching her keys from her locker and tearing off her apron. On her way out, Old Georgia and Mr. Chen were sharing the same table. She wanted that, love and flirtation until she grew old.
That first meant coaxing her mate back from his dragon form.
She’d never done that before. Makenna didn’t know if she could even bring a dragon back to his human form. She wondered if she would need tools or ingredients like a spell as she raced up the side of the mountain.
It was a much bumpier ride than last time, considering she’d taken Griffin’s truck the last time. Her car groaned and thudded over the mountain roads. Each pot-hole made her cringe, but she didn’t slow down.
The park was nearly empty. A small family of three were making their way back to their car, a picnic basket hanging from the husband’s hands. She flashed them a quick smile before searching the sky for smoke. The woman broke away from her family to ask Makenna if she was okay. Makenna hadn’t realized how frantic she’d appeared.
She promised them she was fine, but they still kept looking at her with concern. Her hands were shaking so she shoved them in her pockets. Finally, she found the tell-tale smoke. It was faint, barely more than a hint of gray against the blue sky. Seeing it lessened her fear. An angry dragon set things on fire. For there to be so little smoke told her that he wasn’t angry.
She ran toward the smoke, toward Ashton.
Running through the woods wasn’t easy. She tripped and stumbled a few times. It was apparent that she wasn’t cut out for the wilderness. If she had to do this again, she would designate a specific spot for Ashton to brood in. One that was much easier to reach.
Each step let her collect her thoughts. Her fear turned to annoyance and then to concern. This wasn’t supposed to happen. The night before, in the back of Ashton’s truck, he’d told her things were better. Only two days had passed since he’d lost control. It should have been a sign of things getting better, but it wasn’t.
She found him on a ledge, like Griffin told her. He stared out over the town with a scowl, though she couldn’t tell if his beast looked like that normally. When she approached, it spun on her. Her heart leapt into her throat for a split second. The beast immediately recognized her, and the scowl softened.
“I thought you said you could handle this.” Makenna was near tears. She stood with her hands on her hips, hoping the stance would offer some small amount of strength, but she didn’t feel it. “You told me this was getting better.”
The copper dragon lowered its head to the ground. Sparks flashed in its nostrils and tendrils of smoke entered the air. She only sighed. The beast continued to give her puppy-dog-eyes, but she wouldn’t fall for it.
“Work let me come get you today, but I can’t leave them every time you lose control.” Her throat strained against the sob attempting to break free. She choked it back. “What happened? Why did you steal control from Ashton?”
The beast whined. It would have been cute had the situation been any different. She clenched her jaw and shook her head, determined not to fall for it.
“Give him back. We need to talk.”
She didn’t think the beast would obey, but a flash of copper light blinded her. She heard the growls of a dragon become the groans of a man. When the light cleared, Ashton stood naked before her. She wished she could lean and snatch a leaf from a nearby tree, but it was winter, so she had to make an effort not to get distracted by his cock.
“What happened?” she pleaded.
His response was delayed. Copper flooded his eyes, the beast still trying to control him. When she saw him bite down on his cheek, she stepped forward. Laying her hands on his chest, she saw the molten copper fade. When he put his hands over hers, all that was left was the honey brown of his human eyes.
“I visited Jasper and Griffin. Turns out they’re both assholes and I’m the only one who is even trying to put this mess back together again.” His gaze was downcast, the mission he carried holding him down.
Makenna knew what that felt like. She understood how overwhelming it could be to try to take care of everything at once. It hardly ever worked.
“You aren’t alone. I can help, too. The town even wants to help.” She touched his cheek and drew his attention to her. “Work is paying me to come out here and leash you.”
Ashton let out a soft chuckle. “I hate to tell you, but I’m not really into leash play.”
She pinched his nipple. He cried out, more surprised than anything, and clamped a hand over the nipple. “You know what I meant.”
He grasped the back of her neck and drew her in for a kiss. His bare skin was warm, even through her winter coat. When his lips parted and his tongue delved into her mouth, she groaned and tilted her head back for more. Ashton growled into her mouth. She felt the rise of his beast when his grip on her tightened.
She wasn’t afraid of it. Instead, a wave of excitement quickened her breathing.
“I don’t know if work will pay me for this,” she breathed. But she didn’t pull away.
Ashton’s hands slid beneath her winter coat. She tensed, expecting them to be cold, but she should have known better. His warmth glided up her stomach and over her breasts. They staggered together until her back pressed against a tree.
She managed to break away and steal a moment to speak by clutching his face between her hands. His beard was just as silky as she thought.
“Next time your dragon thinks about having a fit, tell him he needs to go to the apartment. I’m not dragging my car up to Kimbley Park every time it’s overwhelmed.”
Ashton, who looked concerned only a moment ago, broke into a grin. “I’ll do my best.”
Makenna could accept that much. She trusted Ashton’s progress. This wasn’t the worst thing to happen. They could keep working on this. Nothing would be the nail in the coffin for them. They would do whatever it took to keep working on their problems. That was what it meant to be mated, she realized.
Unable to resist one another, their clothes fell to the ground. The bark of the tree was rough against her skin, but she barely felt it in the heat of Ashton’s presence. His beast swirled in his eyes. The dragon’s presence only made her heart beat faster. She reached for his face and laid a gentle kiss on each eye.
When he pressed the head of his cock to her center, she was already wet and waiting. He grasped her neck, ducking his head as a hungry growl ripped from his lips. It sent a chill through her.
Makenna wasn’t sure how they would get through the next few days let alone the years to come, but she didn’t allow herself to think about it. Worry would eat at her only if she let it. They would have to take everything one at a time. Problems would come, and problems would go. The only thing that would remain was each other.
Chapter Sixteen
Ashton threw down a stack of books and magazines he’d borrowed from the library. Makenna, who’d been leaning back in her seat and nursing a cup of chamomile tea, sat forward. The hour was late. She would have to get up early in the morning and head back to the diner to do it all over again. These few moments at night with Ashton were all she would get until the stars aligned an
d she had another true day off.
It had her seriously considering quitting one job, but it would strain her already stretched finances.
“What are these?”
“Architecture,” Ashton said, raising the first book. He set it aside and reached for the next. “Home planning. Home décor.”
She raised a brow. “Are you planning on buying yourself a house?”
It never occurred to Makenna that he would move out. Ashton had installed himself in her home, but it was hers. It would only make sense that he would want something of his own. He was a dragon shifter, after all.
Still, unexpected disappointment filled her. When he arrived, she’d wanted to push him away at all costs. Now that it seemed like he would leave, she wanted to hold onto him.
Ashton grinned. He always smiled like he knew the secrets to the universe. It annoyed her only because it felt like he wouldn’t share. She wanted to know the thoughts behind that luminous smile, what gave it such light.
“I’m not buying a house. I’m going to build one.”
She nodded sagely, as if that made any difference to her. It was all the same in the end. Ashton was leaving her again. She tried not to think about it too hard. They were mates. It was a fact they both knew, but how he could leave to build his own home when she wanted to cling to him was beyond her.
Did he not feel the same way? Makenna spared every waking moment between jobs to spend time with her mate. The hours she spent in his presence were refreshing. To think that it was not the same for him stung.
“I don’t think you understand,” Ashton added. He ducked his head to meet her diverted gaze. “I’m building us a house. It’s for you and me.”
She sat, stunned. All she could do was blink. Blink. Blink.
For all her confusion, he looked satisfied with himself. She wondered if he’d bought himself a trophy along with the books. He would have if he’d come across one. That’s how satisfied he looked.
“You just spent all this time and money outfitting my linen closet with a studio,” she managed to spit out.
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