Dragon's MatchMate Agency: A Paranormal Romance Boxset

by Maia Star

  Before I can answer, I hear a police officer calling me. “Miss!” Turning around, the officer jogs over to me. “Is that your son?”

  “Yes, it is. Arthur here saved him for me.”

  The police officer gives Arthur a look and sighs, bringing up his walkie talkie. “The kid’s been found, everyone. Focus on rounding up the thieves.” He looks to Arthur. “You took them down?”

  Arthur stands a bit taller. “Yeah. The ones inside and the one trying to kidnap Kai here.” He throws me a look. “And the one near the van.”

  “The one near the van?”

  “Yeah, I can show you if you want. If you don’t mind me walking around naked.”

  “Uh...just point me in the right direction.”

  While Arthur is telling the officer where we found the parked van, I briskly walk back inside to where Cindy is sitting on the couch. Two more police officers are standing nearby, hoisting up the remaining thieves and carrying them outside to throw in their cars. I sit down next to Cindy and place a hand on her shoulder. She doesn’t seem to recognize it’s me at first, but then she sits up.

  “Oh, hey, Miss Martinez,” she says in a weak voice.

  “How are you holding up?” Kai grips my clothes tighter, though he’s not crying audibly anymore. Now he’s just sniffling into my left shoulder. “I’m so sorry this happened.”

  Cindy shakes her head. “No. It’s not like you told those guys to rob your apartment while Kai and I were here. Besides, that guy got here just in time to save the day.” She smiles at the thought. “He was pretty cute too. Is he your boyfriend? I didn’t know you dated shifters.”

  I try my best to keep my smile going, but I let it slip and don’t feel like forcing one again. I’m too exhausted for that. “It’s complicated.”

  “What relationship isn’t?”

  “No, this is especially complicated.” I pause. “When he walks in here, he might be a bit mad. Oh, and be warned, he’s naked right now. It’s a shifter thing—”

  Almost on cue, Arthur struts back inside. Through the window, I see the police cars driving away. Everything is cleaned up. Our part in that whole debacle is finished.

  So Arthur stands in the doorway. “Scar, we need to talk.”

  I glance over at Cindy, who’s now perched on the edge of her seat and looking him up and down. Her eyes settle between his legs, and I instantly move to block her. She’s at that age, but my god, is that awkward. “Cindy, I think it’s time you go home.”

  Surprisingly, she doesn’t fight me and instead gets to her feet with a pep in her step. “All right! I’ll see you around, Miss Martinez. Bye, Kai!” She trots to the door, and when Arthur moves to the side, she blows a kiss at him, making him frown even more.

  Once she’s gone, Arthur turns back to me. “What is she, a babysitter?”

  “Yeah, the babysitter I hired who now knows what your junk looks like. Nice job,” I said.

  Arthur scoffs. “Like I had the time to fly back to my apartment, grab some pants, and fly all the back and then put them on. It’s barely been a couple minutes.” He shakes his head. “Do you have some pants I can borrow then?”

  I wave indistinctly in the direction of my room. “Just go grab my sweatpants or something.”

  Arthur grumbles as he marches away, and I sigh into Kai’s ear, making him shiver. “Look, Kai. You’re safe now. We’re all safe. It’s okay to let go of Mommy. You can sit next to me instead!” But Kai doesn’t budge. “Kai, please…” After about a minute of sitting in silence, trying not to doze off from my fatigue, Kai lets go sits on my lap. I smile down at him. At least that’s something.

  Soon enough, Arthur stalks back into the living room and pulls up a chair directly across from me. He’s only wearing a pair of my sweatpants, and I can still see the outline of his manhood, but right now, I’m not exactly in the horny type of mood, so it’s much easier to ignore it. Instead, I’m focused entirely on the seething anger behind his gaze and how it’s directed right at me.

  Kai grips my hand tightly, feeling the same anger I feel from Arthur. My ex speaks. “So, Kai is your son, right? I just want to make this as clear as possible. He’s yours. He is, without a doubt, your son. Right?”

  I nod silently.

  “And you haven’t told me yet...because?” He seems genuinely confused and a bit irritated.

  I scrunch up my face. “I was planning on telling you tonight. If not tonight, then soon.”

  “That’s not what it seemed like.”

  “Arthur, there’s more, so be quiet for a few seconds.”

  Arthur obeys, shockingly, and shuts his trap while I take a deep breath. “Arthur. Kai isn’t just my son...he’s yours too.”

  “What?” He shoots to his feet, his voice at the level of a shout. “You’re kidding me! Kai’s my son? But how?”

  “That month we spent together.” I glance at Kai, who’s curling into a ball, looking between Arthur and me. “He’s four years old, Arthur.”

  “If he’s mine, then why didn’t you tell me before now?” Arthur is going wild now, pacing back and forth, scratching his head and grimacing. “What the hell, Scar? Kai is my kid, and you chose not to tell me?”

  Now I’m surging to my feet, placing Kai next to me and matching Arthur’s intense anger. “Don’t you dare blame this on me! You’re the one who left, remember? I found out that day. The day you left is when I found out I was pregnant. I went to tell you but found you ready to leave, all packed. Goddamn it, I tried to tell you, but you ran out quicker than I ever could imagine.” Hot tears are streaming down my face now. “I screamed it to you but you were gone!”

  Arthur goes still, slack-jawed, watching me. He glances towards the window.

  “You left me to raise a kid on my own. You left me to raise a shifter kid on my own...though I didn’t know that until recently. How could you? Did you think there would be no consequences to sleeping with me and just moving on?”

  Behind me, Kai begins to bawl out his eyes again. I whip around, my focus back on my son. Kai wasn’t meant to hear all this. I don’t think he can make sense of what we’re saying, but he can still feel the anger and pain coming off us in waves. Kneeling in front of him, I try to smooth his hair and hold him, humming to calm him down. But it doesn’t work. He keeps pushing me away.

  Suddenly, Arthur is at my side. “What can I do?”

  “You can wait here,” I snarl, scooping Kai up and briskly walking him to his room. When I place him down in his bed, I try smiling at him. He’s calming down again. “Look, Kai. Just rest...okay? I’m going to...have a nice chat with Arthur. I’ll be back to sing you to sleep, or maybe read a bedtime story, okay?”

  Kai nods, understanding most of that.

  “Good boy! Please, just rest now. Everything is okay.”

  I shut Kai’s door quietly, pressing my forehead to it. After a few seconds, I wipe the tears from my cheeks and walk back to the living room. Arthur is standing, tense, waiting for me. He’s watching my every move. He’s frowning again...but it’s a different frown from earlier. It’s like he’s frowning at himself for making Kai scared.

  “We need to talk, Scar,” he says, sitting down on the couch. “Please.”

  I nod and walk over, taking deep breaths. My heart is overflowing with so many hot feelings. It’s hard to sort them all out properly. “Yeah. We do...I’m sorry, I just—it’s hard to raise a kid all on your own for so long. It’s been so hard!” I paused to grab a tissue. “I loved you so much, yet you betrayed me, and I blamed you for everything.”

  Arthur listens quietly, though he eventually puts an arm around me. “Rest your head on my shoulder. Take it easy. Hit me if you want.”

  I ball up a fist and lightly tap his chest, but sigh. “I can’t do that…”

  Arthur smiles. “I’m surprised. I mean, you were strong enough to hold up until now. I’m sure you still have energy left in you. You’re just not the fighting type.” I let out a scoff at that. “Putting up with my
shit...raising Kai all on your own...and I had no idea. Damn. Scarlet, I’m so sorry. If I had known you were pregnant...if I had just waited, I wouldn’t have left you.” Looking down at me, his green eyes dazzle in the overhead lights. “You have every right to hate me, to kick me out. To never want me to see Kai. I might not be the best father figure for him.”

  I let my body lean into his, feeling the warmth from his bare skin. I’m so content. All my fears are slowly going away. All I want is to rest. “I don’t know what I want or what’s best for him right now. I’m not in the right mindset to think about it.”

  Arthur pushes me off and then stands, stretching. “Well, then I’ll get going. I’ll let you two rest.”

  “Wait!” I grab his wrist. “Wanna stay the night? I don’t know if I feel safe here...plus, there’s Kai. If, by some miracle, those thieves were to break out and come back…”

  Arthur stares at me. “You know that’s not going to happen.”

  “Either way...please, just stay.”

  We stare into each other’s eyes for what feels like an eternity. There’s so much going on inside his head right now. I can see it in the way he stares back at me. He turns back and leans down, cupping my face, kissing me. The kiss is short and sweet, and soon enough, he’s lifting me off the couch. “Considering your door is trashed, I’ll sleep on the couch. Like a guard dog...or guard dragon?”

  I laugh and nod at him. “Thank you, Arthur. Seriously.”

  Patting me on the shoulder, he smiles. “Go get some rest.”

  So I walk off to my bedroom, more confused than ever. What do I do from here?

  Chapter Sixteen

  Arthur

  I wake up the next morning to the eyes of a stranger staring at me.

  Groggy, I blink and rub my face, shaking my head until my vision isn’t blurry from sleep. Squinting at the figure in the doorway...no, just standing in the hallway, I smile and wave.

  The figure is a woman who’s glancing at the open doorway, eyeing the bits of wood still lying on the ground from when I kicked down Scarlet’s door. The woman looks eerily confused, especially when she sees me. I’m guessing she’s one or Scarlet’s neighbors. At least, that’s the sense I get from her.

  The woman won’t stop staring at me, now that she’s noticed I’m awake. “Excuse me...what happened here? Wasn’t there a young woman and her kid living here?”

  I rub the back of my head. “There is. I broke down the door.” The woman jolts back. “Thieves, and no, I wasn’t one of them. I saved the day.” And when the woman still looks at me as if she doesn’t believe a word I said, I grin. “I’m her boyfriend.”

  “No, he’s still just a friend,” Scarlet’s voice says from over my shoulder. Glancing back, I see Scarlet marching over in red and blue dot pajamas. She’s holding her stomach, her hair all messy but tied into a ponytail. When she looks my way, my heart thuds like crazy. Even without the makeup, Scarlet has always been gorgeous. Hell, she may have gotten prettier since four years ago.

  She walks up to the door, extending a hand. “I’m Scarlet. My son and I just moved in a little while ago. We were almost robbed yesterday. Sorry if we kept you up with the commotion.”

  The neighbor woman’s features seem to soften, and suddenly, the two are chatting about the whole situation.

  Since I am still a bit groggy, and my stomach is growling, I decide to lay back down and throw an arm over my eyes. I already know the story. I don’t need to know who that woman is. One problem at a time.

  I must have fallen asleep again at some point because the next thing I know, Scarlet’s hand grips my forearm and she’s shaking me awake. I’m blinking, looking up at her, the sun’s rays streaming into the living room a bit brighter than before. “Time to get up, Arthur. I know it’s a nice, sunny Sunday morning, but you can’t sleep here forever.”

  Groaning, I smile up at her. This almost feels like a dream, seeing her above me, shaking me awake from a long nap. I pucker my lips, ready to get a morning kiss. Instead, she rolls her eyes and walks away, leaving me to kiss nothing but the air.

  Sighing, I rock up to a sitting position and rub my skin. All I have for clothes are the pair of sweatpants Scarlet let me borrow, but the rest of my body is still naked. I don’t really mind since I’m a dragon shifter and all. Plus, the sunlight feels good on my bare skin as I rise to my feet and stretch.

  “Are you fine with eggs and bacon for breakfast?” Scarlet calls from the kitchen.

  “Yeah, that’s fine with me...hey, Scar,” I say.

  “What?”

  “Is Kai up? Or does he normally sleep in?”

  Scarlet looks over her shoulder at me with a raised eyebrow. “He might be up in a few minutes...he could already be up. He’s an early riser. Why?”

  I scratch my chin, glance at Kai’s bedroom door. Now that I know Kai is my son, a weird, warm feeling in my chest has begun to take hold. I wanted kids, and my four-year-old son has just popped up. “Well, I’m thinking since he’s my son that I...you know, should talk to him. Just one on one.”

  “No, that’s not a good idea,” she says without glancing back at me.

  “What? Why not?”

  “He might be scared, Arthur. He was scared of you last night.”

  “So then I’ll just make him laugh. He’ll get used to me in no time.”

  “We’re not a couple—”

  “Yet.”

  “—so I don’t want him getting attached to you unless I’m sure you’ll be the father he needs.” She cracks some eggs into a bowl and whisks them around. Even if she’s turned from me, she’s still hunched over, the sign that she’s not exactly smiling right now. “So, I’d rather you not mess with my son.”

  The way she stills says “my” rumbles the dragon inside me. Even if I only met Kai last night, I can just feel it in my gut. Instinct tells me that Kai is mine. He’s got my blood. Chewing on my lip, I walk over to Scarlet and lean against the counter next to her.

  “First of all, we’re definitely getting back together,” I say. She stops working and looks at me. There’s a hint of agreement in her eyes, even if she won’t say it. “You and I both know by this point, but it’s true. We need each other. You need a partner and a father for Kai. I need a mate, and I want to have kids. But that second part, I can check off already because Kai is here.” When she remains silent, I smile. “Look, Scar. Even if, by some miracle, we don’t end up together, if you decide I’m not good enough, Kai is still my son. I can feel it deep down whenever I look at him. I practically knew when I first saw him last night. I’ll still want to see him, to help support him, no matter what happens. But I can’t do any of that unless he gets to know me first.”

  Scarlet turns to think for a few heartbeats, but she eventually nods. “Fine. If he’s awake, you can talk to him now while I cook breakfast...but don’t say that you’re his dad just yet. Introduce yourself as my friend...or something. He probably wouldn’t understand anything else unless it came from me.”

  “Got it! I won’t let you down, Scar.”

  And then I am off, striding four steps to Kai’s bedroom door. Steeling myself to face my son, I gently knock on the door with my knuckles. “Kai? You awake, buddy?”

  “Just go in,” Scarlet mumbles from behind me.

  Opening the door, I peer inside. I see Kai awake and on the floor, playing with a set of LEGOs. Raising an eyebrow, I slip in and shut the door behind me. Kai doesn’t seem to notice me until I sit down across from him. Once he recognizes it's me, though, he scooches back, causing me to laugh. “Oh, come on! All I did was sit down. We all sit down at some point.” But when Kai seems unconvinced, I continue, “Is sitting really that scary?”

  Kai shakes his head. “Go away.”

  I want to slap myself silly. How am I already screwing this up? “Kai, do you know who I am?”

  Kai gazes up at me, his eyes big, his little frame curling up. “You’re a monster.”

  “What? I’m not a—” But the
n I pause and roll my eyes. He means I’m a dragon shifter. But he doesn’t know that dragon shifters are common. Damn, I wasn’t prepared for this talk. This kid’s gonna run me around in circles. “Look, I’m not a monster...not in the sense you’re using it. I’m a dragon shifter. I can turn into a cool, fire-breathing dragon whenever I want!” Pretending to flap my arms like dragon wings, I make whoosh sounds and whistle. “I can fly high in the sky! Don’t you think that’s cool?”

  When Kai just blinks at me, I try a different route. “Remember last night? That scary, evil man tried to kidnap you! But I shifted into a dragon to come find you and save you! Remember that?”

  Kai’s eyes go wide, and then suddenly, they scrunch up again and tears begin to run down his face. “That was scary!”

  “Oh, no, no, no! Don’t cry!” I’m whispering at this point, reaching forward to wipe his cheeks with my thumb. But I don’t get that far, because Kai crawls away, huddling near his bed, staring back at me. “Please, Kai, listen to me! I’m…” I glance towards the door, lowering my voice again. I know Scarlet told me to introduce myself as just her friend, but my inner dragon won’t let me do that. “I’m not a monster, Kai. I’m your dad. See? We’ve got the same color hair...and the same eyes. I finally came back after a...long journey! Yeah, a journey so long, it took me four years!”

  He calms down, even if it’s just a bit. “You’re my...daddy?”

  “Yes! I’m Daddy! Sorry, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you. I’m sure your mom has said lots of cool things about me in the meantime, right?”

  When he shakes his head, the pit of my stomach threatens to drop away. “She says you're bad. One time...she...um...she said you a-band-on her. But she said you might be back.”

  “She was right...for all of that,” I say with a soft smile. There’s no point in lying to my son. I don’t think I would ever be strong enough to do that. “And I’m back to make amends. I’m here to stay. For good. As long as your mommy will allow it.”