Wyatt Drake

by Emilia Hartley

  Wyatt wanted to reach out and rub his thumb over the bone on her wrist, wishing he could ease the pain for her. Still, all this while, she smiled and laughed at herself. Each story of pain was a lesson in life. It was a tale only she could unfold. He was happy to sit and listen, to get to know her life through the snapshots of pain and struggle laced with humor.

  Once more, he found himself comparing the moment to his previous relationship. He was starting to see all the ways they’d been unhappy. The signs had been there, but his desire to settle down had blinded him to them. For once, he could breathe easy. The pain over Nicole’s rejection no longer stung.

  “And that’s how I lost my job as an art gallery coordinator and took up food blogging.”

  Wyatt’s brows arched incredulously. “You dropped a bowl of Bolognese on a five-thousand-dollar painting?”

  She shrugged innocently, that little smile on her lips drawing him forward.

  Wyatt was starting to question what he really wanted. He thought he knew, but his head was becoming a jumble of thoughts. The past slammed into the present in a burst of epiphanies that rocked his view of the world.

  “I, ah…” He looked around and saw the bathroom door. “I need to go to the bathroom.”

  Her smile vanished, lips tightening. He needed a moment alone, to separate his thoughts and get them in order again. Even if it hurt Kennedy, he couldn’t spend another moment in her enchantment. Not until he figured out why he was so drawn to her.

  Chapter Six

  Kennedy watched Wyatt leave. He practically launched himself away from the table in an effort to get away from her. She probably shouldn’t have said so much about her past. It most likely frightened him away. Revealing that she was only ever seconds away from some sort of accident could have set off alarms for him.

  He was probably running for the exit.

  Someone slid into the seat across from her, and her heart leapt. It crashed when she realized the person across from her wasn’t Wyatt. It was the man from the diner. He ran a hand through his short hair, tawny like a newborn fawn.

  “I thought I owed you an apology,” he began.

  Kennedy looked around for Wyatt, but he was nowhere to be seen. She could feel the pulse in her neck racing wildly. Nothing had happened yet, and they were in a public place. Even if this guy had creeped her out before, he could do nothing to her. Not here in the middle of the restaurant.

  But they weren’t in the middle. Because of Wyatt’s wounds, she’d asked for a spot more closed off. She’d wanted privacy for him. Now, it left her vulnerable in the presence of this stranger.

  He reached across the table and took her hand before she could snatch it back. “You should give me a chance to make it up to you. I could show you why we are meant to be mated.”

  Mated? The stranger was using words that Kennedy was sure she didn’t understand. Sure, she knew what the word meant, but she was sure there was a context she didn’t know. When he cocked his head and the light caught his eyes, she saw the flash of red that gleamed across them.

  Her stomach churned. Was he like Wyatt? It would explain why he was so fast. He’d appeared so quickly. Kennedy was starting to question her desire to know everything about Wyatt’s world. She’d wanted to get to know Wyatt, but if this was what the others were like, then she doubted her place here.

  Wyatt made her feel safe. This stranger who held her hand captive set off all kinds of alarms. Her instincts told her to flee, but she was trapped.

  “I’m not sure what you mean,” she tried, keeping her voice pleasant despite her fear.

  She scanned the room for Wyatt again. The stranger grabbed her chin and pulled her attention back to him.

  “Don’t think about that guy. This is about you and me.” He held her, no indication that he would let go any time soon.

  She swallowed.

  “I’m a very lonely man. A woman like you could keep me company. I’d shower you with gifts, with pretty clothes and sparkling jewels.” He punctuated his offer with a half-grin. “A queen deserves to look like one.”

  “Ah, thanks but no thanks.” Kennedy tried to pull her hand from his, but he held on tight. “Please leave me alone. I just want to eat my lunch.”

  Kennedy was ashamed of the panic that filled her voice, but she couldn’t escape it any more than she could escape the stranger. She hated the way he spoke to her, as if he wasn’t scaring her at all. Could he not see what he was doing?

  A shadow loomed over the table. A comforting scent reached her, like pine and earth and fabric softener. A large hand descended on the back of the stranger’s neck. Wyatt ripped him from the chair and shoved him away from the table. The stranger looked between them as if he might stay and fight.

  “If you ever lay a hand on her again, I will personally relieve you of your manhood.” Wyatt’s voice was a low growl that slithered quietly in the darkness. There was no denying the vehemence he poured into it, the promise it held. “And if you touch any woman the way you touched her, I will bring the king of the mountain upon your head and he will rip off your wings.”

  “You can’t deny me the chance at a mate. We all deserve one,” the stranger hissed.

  Kennedy gripped the sides of the table. No one looked in their direction. Not a soul glanced at them. Not even the host or a server treaded in their corner of the restaurant. They all knew what was happening, she realized. The town of Grove knew what lived among them and dared not interfere in their arguments.

  “This woman is off limits,” Wyatt announced, pointing to Kennedy. “Do you hear me? I’m part of the king’s court. Would you defy my word?”

  The stranger seemed to think, probably wondering if she was worth the risk. Kennedy quickly looked away, as if breaking his gaze meant she would disappear altogether. She didn’t want to be there, not while the stranger still lingered.

  Finally, the man turned and fled. He pushed through the swinging kitchen door and disappeared to wherever he’d come from. Kennedy dreaded seeing him again. Each time the door moved, she thought he would reappear.

  Wyatt took up his now empty seat, back straight and eyes on the rest of the restaurant in challenge. Her panic was slowly replaced by a sense of safety.

  By the time Kennedy’s first plates started to arrive, her desire to do her job had faded. Where she normally would have felt excitement for the dramatically staged plates, she now only felt dread. It curled in her stomach and made her feel heavy. She took out her camera, but didn’t take off the lens cap.

  Across from her, Wyatt clenched his fist on the table. He was seething. She worried that his anger was partly her fault. She hadn’t been able to get away from the stranger, but Wyatt didn’t know that. In a weird way, it felt like she’d cheated on him. Not only was there no relationship between her and Wyatt, but she’d done nothing wrong.

  If anything, she’d been a victim. She wasn’t one to play pain and fear like cards in a game, but she wanted him to know that she hadn’t asked for that man’s attention.

  “I—” she began.

  Wyatt pressed his eyes closed. His fist whitened, clenching even harder. “It wasn’t your fault.”

  “Alright, then why are you still so angry with me?”

  His eyes snapped open. They were the color of molten metal, so hot she feared she would ignite under his gaze. A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I’m not mad at you.”

  “It certainly feels like it.” She gestured to where the stranger had run off. “He’s gone, but I’m still here. I’m the one dealing with your anger.”

  Slowly, he let his breath out through his nose. She thought she caught a plume of smoke rising from his parted lips. Could he…could he breathe fire?

  Then, he jerked his chin toward her plates. “Why aren’t you taking pictures of it? You did that with your breakfast at the diner. Isn’t that part of your job?”

  “Hm, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I feel like the big dragon guy at my table is mad at me because another dragon gu
y tried to hit on me. Like a creep, I might add.” Her stomach was in knots.

  All Kennedy wanted was Wyatt to understand that she’d been afraid. Right now, she needed comfort. She needed him to tell her again that it wasn’t her fault.

  Yet, Wyatt looked away and said nothing. Minutes ticked by as her plate grew cold. She should have eaten the first course a while ago, while it was fresh, but there was no rescuing it now. She doubted she would have enjoyed it much anyway, not while she was still on edge.

  “People like me,” Wyatt began, “we have a beast inside us. Most of the time, it’s just a set of instincts that drive us and make us act like animals. There are times when emotions run high and the beast becomes stronger. It becomes more…substantial.”

  “I don’t get why you’re telling me this.” She laid her hands flat on the table.

  The molten metal of his eyes had not yet faded. Kennedy could have written it off as a trick of the light, but she’d seen too much that day to deny anything. She knew what she was looking at was the beast Wyatt spoke of. It became more apparent when she noticed how his teeth had sharpened.

  She should have been afraid. Clearly, she was sharing the table with a monster. Yet, he was not as much of a monster as the other guy had been. Around Wyatt, she was comfortable. He wasn’t going to hurt her. The sharp teeth actually excited her. Memories of his teeth dragging over the skin of her neck bubbled to the surface.

  “My beast is offended by the man who tried to hurt you,” Wyatt went on. “It both wants to take you someplace safe and hunt down the other dragon shifter. I’m smart enough to know I shouldn’t do either, but that leaves me battling my own desires. It takes a lot out of me and I’m sorry that I’m not doing better to control myself.”

  “Is that what you’re called? Dragon shifters?” It was simple and to the point. Their bodies shifted from one form to another. It wasn’t so hard to understand. “Wait. What is it about me that set all this off? Do I smell like raw meat? Am I made of gold and I just don’t know it? I don’t get why everyone is freaking out over me.”

  Kennedy made a show of looking for a patch of gold on her dusky skin, twisting this way and that, pulling up the hem of her shirt to check her waist. When she turned back to Wyatt, he was watching her with an amused smile. She breathed easier, seeing him happier. It wasn’t that she feared him and his wrath, but that she just wanted him to be happy. She didn’t think that was wrong.

  She plucked the lens cap from her camera and stood on her chair to start taking pictures. Wyatt balked at her brazenness, but the smile was worth it. She found a bit of her own happiness returning. The stranger was gone. Wyatt would make sure he never came back.

  Still, she wanted to know why he felt so strongly about her. She couldn’t help but wonder while something similar was growing inside herself. The need to see him smile filled her. It was tied tightly to the same instinct that made her follow him through town.

  Wyatt wasn’t going to tell her, though. His lips were sealed. Well, more accurately, his mouth was full of the cocoa and espresso rubbed rib-eye she’d ordered for him. He groaned with pleasure, a sound that tightened her core and made her shift in her seat when a warmth pooled between her legs.

  While Wyatt slowly devoured his massive steak, Kennedy collected snapshots of her tasting menu courses. They were small, nothing more than a dainty mouthful, but packed with unimaginable flavor. The rest of their meal passed by without event, even though her mind still reeled with questions.

  Every so often, she glanced at the door. She knew at some point they would have to part. Kennedy would be left on her own again. She refused to live in fear of the stranger, but there was no telling when he would return. Wyatt couldn’t live by her side. Even if it seemed like there was the possibility of something between them, he made no move to cross the line and make it anything more than attraction.

  Which saddened Kennedy. She truly wanted to see what his cock looked like while he was excited. Her core throbbed at the thought. It begged for more of Wyatt. Not only his body, which she’d seen in glimpses, but every other part of him. Her fascination with the beast inside him and the pure beauty of it could be very bad.

  Grove, despite its charming beauty, was a place of danger for someone like her. If Kennedy had been smarter, she would be preparing to pack her bags and booking the first ticket out of the mountains. Kennedy was not all that smart. Determination rooted her to the spot. She would stay until she overturned every secret about this town and somehow managed to weave herself into it.

  When the last plate was served and she’d taken enough photos, she set down her silverware and leveled her gaze at Wyatt. He paused, wary of whatever she might have to say. He was getting better at reading her, she noticed.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” she declared. Looking around, she saw people. Humans that lived among the dragons without fear. Dragons who happily lived among humans. “I’d like to believe that if there were a way to ward off losers like that creep, then you would help me with it.”

  She was leading him, trying to pull information out of him. He kept it guarded, but if she was clever, Kennedy could convince him to help her. She’d already done so much for him. It was only fair.

  “I’m going to pay for you to leave. Don’t worry.”

  She gritted her teeth. That was not the reaction she’d wanted. Then, she jutted out her chin and looked him in his bronze eyes. “Do you plan on carrying me through airport security? Are you going to drag me aboard the plane, kicking and screaming?”

  She thought she saw smoke curl out from his nostrils. Kennedy was not daunted. The threat of smoke held no actual fire. Wyatt wouldn’t burn her, nor would he force her to leave. No one in this world could make her leave Grove. She needed the time to figure out what it was that called to her, if it was the town itself or if it was indeed the dragon shifter across from her.

  Never before had she known this feeling. No place in the world had ever been home to her. Not even the place where she grew up. The first chance she had, she’d left for a different town, a different life. Her life had been one move after another. Sometimes she would stay for a year or two, other times she could only bear a week before her feet itched to move again.

  Grove seemed to reach out and tangle her in vines. It drew her in with its secrets, with its glittering lights and wacky sushi bars. With chivalrous men posing as dangerous rebels.

  “You really aren’t going to leave? After that?” He gestured to where the stranger had gone.

  Kennedy sucked in a breath through her nose and straightened her spine. When she leaned forward, her voice was low. “You won’t let him hurt me. Will you?”

  “Listen here. I have enough duties on my plate as it is. I can’t baby sit both you and Jasper. Do you want me hanging out over your shoulder every day? I’m a god-awful bore. I’ll suck the fun out of everything you do.”

  She highly doubted that.

  Before Kennedy could say more, the waiter came back with the bill. Wyatt was quick, claiming it before she could even blink at it. She opened her mouth to argue, but he held up a hand. The waiter just nodded and left. She looked between the two, wondering at the interaction.

  Apparently, being a dragon meant he got free food. That, or the Drake family had a running tab in every establishment in town. As she got to her feet, Wyatt gently laid her coat over her shoulders and leaned in to whisper in her ear.

  “Jasper, my asshole of a cousin, can pay for lunch after the trouble he put us through earlier.”

  She smiled, despite the subject change. Thinking back to the night before, she remembered one of Wyatt’s friends going ballistic on a piece of karaoke equipment at the bar. Perhaps that had been Jasper. From the way he spoke, she guessed he was also the dragon they’d chased out of the sky, the one with golden scales.

  Outside, they walked with Wyatt’s hand on her back. His touch was gentle, but she felt it held more than he was willing to say. It was a claim the whole world could see.
Wyatt glared at each person that passed them. They all gave her and Wyatt a wide berth, reading his intentions one way or another. Whether the pedestrians were human or dragon shifter, Kennedy didn’t know.

  Her hotel came into view. He led her into the lobby, his hand slipping down her back but not yet disappearing. She wanted to lean into the touch, to make it real and not just some show. Before she could say anything, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She twisted and saw a man staring at her from behind the counter.

  Wyatt’s chest rumbled. His attention was on the man, another dragon shifter, she guessed.

  “The men in this town sure are horny for women,” Kennedy quipped, even though she’d reached for Wyatt’s sleeve and was holding him tight. She put her back to the counter. “Tell me there’s something you can do to make them ignore me.”

  “I could put my fist through their faces,” he growled. He held her now, his hands on her hips so she could hide in the shadow of his frame.

  The feeling of being watched slowly went away, probably because of Wyatt. The moment he left her side, the other dragon shifter would seek her out and try to hit on her just like the last one had. They were seeking women to mate, she recalled. Perhaps it was part of the beast’s instinct. Either way, she was not interested.

  Her attention was on one man, and at this point she would do whatever he asked just to make the others go away.

  “There’s…” He paused. “There’s one thing I could do, but I don’t know if that’s the smartest option. It might be better if I just hang out in the lobby.”

  Kennedy almost told him he could go up to her hotel room. She didn’t. A small part of her knew he wasn’t ready. It was in the way he’d raced to the bathroom earlier. In the way he dodged her questions and retreated into his own thoughts. Wyatt was working through something and if she pushed him, she could destroy their relationship before it even begun.

  “If it means you don’t have to waste your time with me, then I’m willing to do anything.”