by Linzi Baxter
Lucy didn’t have time to say anything because Alida appeared in her room again, and she wasn’t alone. Gideon was with her. He rushed to her side. “What’s wrong?”
She took a step back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Alida said you were sick.”
Before she could turn to Alida, the girl ran out of the room, and Lucy laughed. “Well, I’m going to leave you two alone.”
The man still looked sexy as hell. His hair was longer. His eyes didn’t sparkle as much as they had.
“I’m fine, Gideon. Go.”
Her stupid dragon used that moment to come back to life. She wanted to pin Gideon down and strip him naked. But the human side still had control, so she stood with her arms crossed and waited for him to leave.
His lip ticked up, and he folded his arms. “I’m not leaving. We need to talk.”
“There was plenty of time to talk over the last month, and you chose not to come talk to me.” The words came out clipped.
“I had things to work out.”
“We were supposed to be a team and work things out together.”
“We are a team.” He sighed. “But one of the things I needed to do on my own, I just finished, and I was getting ready to come here when Alida showed up. You can ask Kirin or Kia. They both knew I was coming over today.”
It hurt that he’d been talking to them and not her. Gideon hadn’t even picked up the phone to call her over the last month to see if she was okay.
“You can’t just walk back into my life after ignoring me for a month. Even if you had something to work out, you could’ve called, emailed, or even sent a text. But instead, I got radio silence, and I needed you. Things have been difficult, and the one person I needed wasn’t there for me.”
Gideon stepped across the room and ran his thumb over her cheek, wiping the tear away. “What I was doing took longer than I expected. If I’d called and heard your voice, I wouldn’t have been able to stay away. And what I was doing was for you.”
“I missed you so much,” she said.
With his fingers on her and him being so close, the anger started to drift away. She wanted him to wrap his arms around her and make the world disappear.
“It killed me to be away from you. Hell, I made Kia steal your pillow one night, so I could smell your shampoo. Do you know what kind of favor I’m going to owe the dragon now? There are things I need to tell you, and if you still want me, afterward, I want to take you home, and we will bond.”
She didn’t need to hear the things he’d done in the past. “I don’t want to wait.”
“There are things you need to know.”
She held her hand to his face. “No, there aren’t, Gideon. I love you, and that is all that matters.”
His eyes flashed dark emerald green. “You love me?”
“Yes, you silly warlock, and if you’d talked to me days ago, you would already know that.”
He pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was demanding and full of need. “I love you, too, my angel,” Gideon whispered against her lips.
“I need you, Gideon.”
He tore her tank top over her head. Gideon kissed his way down her neck, and when he got to her nipple, he captured it in his lips. His other hand pressed between her legs. The second his finger skimmed her clit, fire coursed through her body.
“You’re already wet and needy for me.”
“Please… Gideon.”
When he took his hand away and got off the bed, she let out a whimper. He quickly discarded his jeans. Her mouth watered at the sight of his hard cock.
He climbed back onto the bed, and before he could work his way down her body, she tightened her grip. “I need you now, Gideon.”
His eyes searched hers for a split second before he pushed in and she wrapped her legs around him. She met his thrusts, and when she placed her face in the crook of his neck, she couldn’t help but run her teeth along his shoulder.
Gideon thrust harder with each swipe of his tongue. “Claim me,” he whispered.
There was no holding back. Her teeth clamped down on his shoulder, and an orgasm rushed through her body. Gideon’s magic filled the room. They started to float above the bed, but Gideon kept thrusting until he went over the edge, and the magic disappeared. The dull ache in her heart was gone.
“Can we do that again?” Diem asked.
Gideon rolled over onto his back and pulled her to his side. “We can do that as much as you want for the rest of our lives.”
She touched the eternity symbol on his chest. She would live forever. It should scare her, but knowing Gideon would be by her side for all of it, she couldn’t wait for what the next hundred years brought them. He ran his hand down her side and traced her scar.
“Can you tell me what you’ve been working on?” she asked.
Gideon let out a sigh. “We should have talked about it before we bonded, but there is no going back, and I don’t regret anything. After we got you out of the lab, my memories came back. And one of them was about your mom.”
Diem hadn’t even considered the possibility that her mom might still be alive. She figured Kia or Kirin would have said something to her. “Is she still alive?”
“Yes, but years ago, I helped her hide and erased her memory.”
“I’m happy she’s alive.”
“I don’t know how I got so lucky. I’m sorry I erased her memory, but I wanted you to meet your mom. So for the past few weeks, I’ve been working with her. And yesterday, she finally got her memories back, and she wants to meet you.”
She was the luckiest woman alive to have found Gideon as her mate. “I love you so much.”
“You’re not mad at me, angel?”
“Of course not. Next time, we’ll work these things out as a team. I thought you didn’t want to be with me any longer.”
Gideon spent the rest of the night making love to her.
Epilogue - Gideon
“Are we there yet?” Kayda asked from the back seat. She had her signature glare in place.
This was the same question she’d asked less than ten minutes earlier. He wondered if the woman was three years old.
He let the question roll off his shoulders. Someone else in the car could answer her, because it seemed like she couldn’t hear a word he said. Arrow sat next to her and grunted—his only response to Kayda for the last hour. Gideon almost regretted offering to let Kayda come along in their car, but it made his mate happy, and that was all that mattered. Gideon could deal with the crabby sister.
He was happy and nervous. He now understood why Kirin, Kia, and Conley were so different after finding their mates and bonding. The world had changed the second he connected with Diem, and he wanted everyone to have the same connection.
That was another reason he was tolerating the two in the back of his car. Gideon caught Arrow looking at Kayda with soft eyes before he schooled his features back into a frown.
“Is anyone going to answer me?” Kayda asked.
Diem reached over and grabbed his hand, and he glanced at her. She had a twinkle in her eyes.
Damn, I am lucky to have found the most beautiful woman.
“I heard you, Kayda,” Diem said. “I’m choosing to ignore your dumb question. You know where we’re going, and you have a phone. If you want the exact ETA, look it up.”
Kayda huffed. “Yeah, tell that to the dragon pushing at my skin.”
She still struggled with her beast. Lucy had worked to try to find a formula that would help her. Nothing seemed to work, and Kirin worried she would change in a crowded area.
Arrow hadn’t left her side, even though she ignored him or called him an overgrown babysitter. There was so much anger in Kayda, and Gideon wondered if it was from the change or from something that had happened before the change.
“Do we need to stop?” Arrow asked. He tried to grab Kayda’s hand, but she yanked it away.
“No. Let’s go meet and greet our mother, and the
n we’ll be on our way.”
Thirty minutes later, he pulled to a stop in Catherina’s driveway. So much had changed in the past day. Diem and he had gotten back together.
He jumped out of the car and walked to Diem’s side and held the door open. She smiled up at him as she climbed out of the car. Kayda growled at Arrow for trying to help her. She told him she could get the door by herself.
Gideon held Diem’s hand as they walked up to the small house. “Ready?”
She nodded, and he knocked on the door. Catherina opened the door. Her blond hair was tied back, and she had on a flowered dress. The tears in her green eyes broke Gideon’s heart—the years away from her daughters, even if she hadn’t known they existed.
“Stop that, Gideon,” Catharine said. “You brought them back to me.”
When Catherina opened her arms, Diem walked right into them. Kayda didn’t move. She just watched like a predator, as if not sure she fit in. Catherina didn’t push her. She smiled at her other daughter and invited everyone into the house.
They followed her in, and everyone took a seat around the table.
“I made cookies,” Catharine said, her voice shaking. “I want to hear everything about you.”
“Our sperm donor of a dad turned us into dragons,” Kayda grumbled. “So there’s that.”
Gideon squeezed Diem’s hand as she closed her eyes for a second. Nobody ever corrected or yelled at Kayda. They were all walking on eggshells, and soon everything would blow up. It was just a matter of time.
Diem said, “Gideon and I are going to assist Kirin with the things he remembered, and after that, we are going to spend some time in Ireland.”
Gideon had wanted to whisk her away after making love, but he knew she wanted to meet her mom first. And she wasn’t ready to leave her sister alone.
“I’ve always wanted to go to Ireland,” Catherina said.
His house outside of Dublin was huge. He had staff who kept the place up. It was also away from everything, so Diem could change into her dragon whenever she wanted and not have to worry.
“You’re always welcome to join us,” he said.
“I might take you up on the offer. You gave me my memories back. I remember more about the shifter world. I’m pretty sure you mated, but do you plan to have a wedding?”
He hadn’t even thought about it. “If Diem wants a wedding, then yes.”
“We have so much going on. If we do, it won’t be for a while,” Diem said.
“You mean, you have to wait until your sister isn’t crazy?” Kayda snarled. A little smoke came out of her nose. She was close to a shift and needed to get her anger under control.
Diem must have been at her wit’s end. She said, “Kayda, you need to take the stick out of your ass. Yes, it sucks that you were turned into a dragon and not asked if you wanted that. Well, I wasn’t asked either. But nobody in this room put the needle in your arm, and if you keep acting like a bitch, nobody is going to want to be around you. I’m surprised Arrow hasn’t thrown his hands up and left.” Diem took a deep breath. “I didn’t mean that, Kayda.”
“Yes, you did. It was the first time you were actually real with me since this happened. I don’t know why I came along today. I’m not ready for this.”
She shoved the chair back and stormed out of the room.
“Kayda…” Diem started to get out of her chair.
“Stay and spend time with your mom. Let me go talk her down.” Arrow stood and walked out of the room after Kayda.
“She’s having…” Diem trailed off.
“It’s okay,” Catharine said. “She needs time. Maybe this is all too soon, but I wanted to see you.”
“And I wanted to see you.”
For the next hour, Diem and her mom chatted about everything. Gideon still couldn’t believe how lucky he was. His phone vibrated. Arrow sent him a text letting him know he and Kayda were going to find another way back.
Arrow had his hands full. But Gideon knew it would work out, not because he saw the future but because Alida had said Arrow would find his mate, and he had a feeling it was Kayda.
On the drive back home, Diem smiled over at him. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me, angel. I would do anything for you.”
“I know, and that’s why I love you!”
“I love you too.” He was the luckiest man alive.
Arrow
He unlocked his apartment door and didn’t need to see her to know she was in his home. It was where she came to hide. The problem was, she didn’t want to talk about what was going on. She only used him so she would have a getaway place. His wolf wanted to be near her, and the way she pushed him away bothered him, but she was hurting.
Diem and Gideon had tried to help her, and it hadn’t worked. He had an idea of what might work. It was a long shot, but after three months of her being rude, it had to stop.
He grabbed a beer from the fridge and walked to the back patio. She was staring off into the mountains. Arrow was well aware he shouldn’t poke the dragon, but it was time someone did something.
“Hey, Arrow,” she said, not looking at him. “I’ll leave soon.”
His eyes went to the spot she was staring at, and he tried to figure out what thought she was lost in. He wished she would talk to someone. “You don’t have to leave,” he informed her.
“If I don’t get back soon, Diem will send out a search party for her lost dog.”
Diem had sent Gideon to his house, looking for Kayda. It had been two months before, and she was still complaining about it. There were many times Arrow had come home and knew Kayda had been at his place. She would come almost every day while he wasn’t there.
“How about I throw some steaks on the grill and we eat dinner?”
“Do you have some of that potato salad left?” she asked.
He knew it was one of her favorite things and made sure to always keep it stocked in the fridge. “Yes. I might even have some chocolate cake in the fridge for dessert.”
Before she had a chance to change her mind, he walked back into the house and grabbed what he needed. They both liked their steaks barely cooked. After he got the steaks on the grill, he turned to Kayda. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
“I’m a dragon.”
“There’s something else bothering you.”
“I don’t know what it is. Ever since I was turned, I feel like I lost myself. My job defined me. I worked my ass off, and now I spend my days getting poked by a human, and she’s not even nice with the needle.”
That was probably because Kayda was a bitch to everyone, and people were at their wit's end trying to help her. But that was the problem—everyone wanted to fix her, but the only person who could do it was Kayda herself.
“Do you want to find the new you, or do you want to stay angry?” he asked. This was the deepest their conversations had every gotten.
“I’m sick of being mad at the world, but I don’t know how to fix it.”
“Do you want to?” he asked. God, I hope she says yes.
“I’m sick of being angry.”
That was a start. “I think I know a way to help you, but you’re going to have to leave West Virginia and your sister for a while,” he said.
“Seeing her happy every day is making it worse for me. I want to be happy for her, but every time I open my mouth, I’m just a bitch.”
He nodded. There was no point in sugarcoating it. “If you’re ready, my idea might work.”
She narrowed her eyes, and he worried she was about to change her mind. “We’re not going to Costa Rica, are we? I’m not doing what Diem did. If that was your plan, you need to figure something else out.”
“Hell no. And if we want to do a ritual, my uncle is a shaman. But you would have to need a lot of help before we went there.”
She barked out a laugh. “You don’t think I need a lot of help?”
He took a step toward her and ran his hand down her face.
She didn’t flinch. “No. I think you are a little lost and need help to find what you're looking for.”
“And what’s that?”
“That is for you to figure out. After dinner, we will go to Gideon’s and pack your bags, and we’ll head out tomorrow.”
“Where are we going?”
“Cassadaga, Florida. You’re not the only one who needs to figure some things out.”
Arrow looked to the corner of the room, where the ghost of his dead mate sat and smiled at him. He had his own ghosts that haunted him.
Preorder Arrow and Kayda’s story now! The Dragon’s Wolf
OTHER TITLES BY LINZI BAXTER
White Hat Security Series
Hacker reExposed
Royal Hacker
Misunderstood Hacker
Undercover Hacker
Hacker Revelation
Hacker Christmas
Hacker Salvation
Hacker Enclosed
Hacker Wedding - Jan 12, 2021
Nova Satellite Security Series
(White Hat Security Spin Off)
Pursuing Phoenix
Pursuing Aries
Pursuing Pegasus Sept 1, 2020
Pursuing Columbia Mar 30, 2021
Pursuing Cygnus May 25, 2021
Immortal Dragon
The Dragon’s Psychic
The Dragon’s Human
The Dragon’s Mate
The Dragon’s Warlock
The Dragon’s Wolf Nov 3, 2020
The Dragon’s Daughter Dec 15, 2020
A Flipping Love Story (Special Forces World)
Unlocking Dreams
Unlocking Hope
Unlocking Love
Unlocking Desire Sept 29, 2020
Unlocking Secrets Apr 27, 2021
Unlocking Lies
Montana Gold (Brotherhood Protector World)
Grayson’s Angel
Noah’s Love
Bryson’s Treasure
Siblings of the Underworld
Hell’s Key
Hell’s Future
Hell’s Vacation
Visit linzibaxter.com for more information and release dates.
