by T. Cobbin
Chapter 5
The drive across Wales and to the ferry took longer than they had expected. What should have been nine hours had turned into a very long twelve. It was almost as if the traffic was against them getting to the island. The air in the car seemed to be getting hotter—Pete was sure of it. Wendy had spotted him glancing at her several times, just as she’d been doing to him. Judging by the coveted glances she’d thrown at his crotch, she was all hot and bothered too.
When Pete had kissed her earlier he was so ready to be inside of his mate and fuck her into oblivion. But a story his mother had told him about his uncle washed over him like a bucket of cold water. His uncle had hit his ninety-fifth year before he started to give in and stop looking for his mate. But out of sheer luck he had packed his bags, ready to take off into the sunset and end his days, when he’d walked into a nurse in the car park of his building.
He couldn’t believe he had found his mate, had bumped into her just as he was about to give in. He’d been so ecstatic he let his instincts take over, and he sweet-talked the young, human woman into his bed and mated her without giving her the chance to learn about his other side. It was the worst thing he could have done. She was quite religious, and when he finally showed his dragon to her she instantly turned against him, calling him the devil’s spawn and such. It was a rare thing to happen between mates. Normally, they were automatically drawn to each other and knew deep down that they were both meant to be together. Only his uncle had drawn the short straw.
Because he had mated her already she was doomed as much as he was. He had tied her life up with his in an instant. His uncle watched from a distance as his mate became ill, and eventually she died of a broken heart. His uncle died not long after, filled with guilt and grief. If he hadn’t mated her that night, if he had walked away, she would have lived.
Pete was already in love with Wendy, and although he knew in his heart they belonged together, he and his dragon agreed that when he told Wendy about them if she wanted to walk away they would let her go. They wouldn’t take her with them into the pits of despair.
Looking over at his tired mate as he pulled his jeep into the ferry car park, his gaze roamed over her peaceful face, her tanned skin, the rise and drop of her breasts as she breathed. He understood now why he had driven twelve hours with his mate sitting beside him with his cock hard and pressing against his zipper. He was really ready for some relief.
“Hey there, sugar,” he said, twisting his body in his seat to run a hand over her cheek.
He knew she had some reservations about coming to the island after he’d stopped their passionate kiss in the kitchen. He could have told her then about his dragon, taken her upstairs to his den and shown her the other half of himself.
On second thought, he really couldn’t have. No, he wanted to show her here, at his home. Where his family was. Where he wanted to be with Wendy if she accepted him.
Closing his eyes, he breathed in deep, taking a second. Opening his eyes again, he shook his mate’s shoulder to wake her. Sleepy, green eyes flickered open and a smile as bright as day greeted him.
“Morning, sunshine,” he said.
She yawned. “Are we there yet?”
“Yes, we are, and just in time for the ferry.”
Wendy quickly sat up and looked around. The sun was already rising in the morning sky, giving it a wonderful orange glow. “It took that long to get here? Oh God, I’m so sorry for falling asleep on you, must have been that really nice hamper you put together.” She winked, leaned over to kiss him briefly, and then turned and climbed out of the jeep.
Pete took their luggage from the car and carried it onto the boat. Then they settled in for the ride over to the island.
The boat trip wasn’t too rough, which was a bonus. In reality the ferry was a small sailboat, only big enough to take a few people to the island at a time. With the island being a sanctuary of sort for birds and other sea creatures, no vehicles were allowed on it.
Now as the ferry docked, ropes were tied, and calls for it being safe for deporting were shouted, Pete watched his mate in fascination as she reveled in the sights around them.
Pete jumped from the boat and took his first step onto the island in years. He breathed in the fresh, freezing air. After so many years, he was shocked not to feel as he thought he would. With keen awareness, he glanced around and studied what once had been home, and it still was. It wasn’t the sad, depressing place he had left. It seemed to shine with new light. And that brightness was coming from the woman beside him. Wendy.
“This place is fantastic. Oh my God, is that a seal over there? Wow, aren’t the birds quite noisy?”
He shook his head, taking hold of her waist and lifting her down from the boat onto the small dock. With the help of the ferry hands their luggage was quickly deported.
“I can’t wait to explore this place. You really own it?” she asked excitedly.
He chuckled. “I do. We’ll have plenty of time to explore if you stay. And yes, that’s a seal. The birds are quite noisy, but you get used to it, and wait ’til night when the lighthouse is lit.”
“What do you mean ‘if I stay’?” She stopped and turned toward him with a questioning look on her face.
“It might get too cold for you or something.” He shrugged. “Come on, let me show you the house.”
Waving goodbye to the men on the ferry, Pete grabbed their luggage and started walking on a path that over time had become worn by the amount of people who had visited the island over the years.
For so long I have thought this place home and have missed it, but even with little mate here it doesn’t smell like home anymore. I can’t wait to see your parents’ den though. I think Wendy will love it, his dragon said.
You’re jumping the gun, my friend. Let’s take this slow and easy. She has to meet you yet, then we show her the cavern. You are right about the smell though, it seems different.
She will love me. And she will love the cavern, although my den is better, more green. His dragon puffed his chest out in pride.
Cocky much?
I say it loud and proud. She will come to love me more than you. You will see.
In your dreams.
His dragon exhaled with a purr and curled up. Pete returned the wave of love his beast sent him with relish. Yes, it was good to be back in sync with his dragon. The last few weeks had been torture for both of them, but Pete was sure he was right in waiting to mate Wendy until she met his other half.
Pete returned his attention to Wendy and told her a few facts he had learned about the groups of birds who used the island as home, and he showed her the visiting family of seals too. They drew nearer his family’s house. No one had lived there since that dreadful night, but he couldn’t bring himself to live there or to sell it. He made sure all the properties on the island were looked after and cleaned for the dragon shifters that used the island as a getaway, although since his family’s murder visiting families had all but drifted off, leaving the island with only one occupant—the island’s caretaker. Pete made sure his species had someplace safe to go to release their counterparts, even if he hadn’t come home…until now.
Arriving at the house, he dropped their bags on the porch and pulled the key out of his jacket pocket. He hadn’t lived there since he was twenty-one. On his birthday his father had given him the key to a house near the beach. His father believed it was time for his son to become his own person. Pete had chosen his parents’ house to bring Wendy to because it was bigger than his own, but now, with the key burning a hole in his hand, he was second-guessing his decision. Only one other time in all his life had he felt the fear that was coursing through him now—the night he had found his family murdered.
* * * *
The island was beautiful. Wendy imagined waking up in a place like this almost daily. The peace and quiet, the birds, the water, even the quaint little cottages. They stood in front of one now, but Pete seemed to be standing still and not
moving. Walking slightly around him, she saw he was indeed quite frozen to the spot. Pain and fear came off the man in waves. He would look at his hand for a second then look at the front door.
She stepped forward and placed her hand over his. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
After a brief pause he answered, “Yes.” His other hand raised and engulfed hers. Looking up, he smiled at her then leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. “Thank you.” His voice came out a gravelly whisper.
She couldn’t imagine the emotions going around in this man right now and didn’t really want to either if his face echoed the pain of them. Releasing her hand, he placed the key in the lock and opened the door. He inhaled deeply before turning to her and gesturing for her to go inside.
“Ladies first.”
“Thank you, kind sir.”
She stepped into the cottage’s quaint little living room. A small, three-seater couch and two chairs filled the room along with what looked like an antique writing desk and sideboard. Also a couple of side tables. She walked across the room and went through another doorway into a good-sized kitchen that led to a dining area with a six-seater wooden table in it. Beside the dining room table was a staircase leading up.
From the outside this place looked like it had low ceilings and a man as tall as Pete would have to slightly bend or hit his head, but she was surprised to see the ceilings were a little higher than normal. Had his family been tall too?
She could imagine the house filled with kids and family all sitting around the dining room table. Wendy glanced back at Pete and froze. He was standing in the middle of the living area with an expression on his face that could tell you a thousand stories of horror just by looking at it.
* * * *
The blood had been cleaned and the room repainted, which Pete knew of course, because he had arranged for it to be done, but it was still a huge shock seeing it. His mother’s flowered couch she had loved was gone and now a leather one sat in its place. He looked up to see Wendy looking around the kitchen.
Breathe, my friend, his dragon instructed.
I keep expecting the twins to come thundering down the stairs and jumping on me, or for my mother to peer around the kitchen doorway as she rubs flour off her hands, or even my father slapping me on the back welcoming me home.
I share your sorrow.
Pete welcomed the waves of love his dragon shared with him, and he closed his eyes and inhaled. Memories of that fateful night came flooding back.
Pete shifted to his human form as he landed on the island, and he ran up the garden path leading to the cottage. The front door was wide open. The time it had taken to fly home had been far too long for his liking. His heart had been in his throat most of the way. His sister’s screams and her panic still filled his ears.
The scent of fresh blood hit his senses as he crossed the threshold. Then he saw blood splattered on the walls and his mother’s flowered couch. He quickly scanned the room and found nothing so moved forward to the kitchen. His mother was there, sprawled bloody and lifeless on the floor, flour still on her hands. Above her head the oven was on and cooking the bird inside it.
Not sparing time to shed a tear, he ran up the stairs, looking for more of his family. At the top he found his once proud father, his head a few inches away from his body. It looked like he had been taken by surprise. Pete knew he must have been as his father was a formidable soldier in his time.
Pete moved down the hallway, looking in all the rooms and finding nothing until he reached the bathroom. Inside he found the twins, holding each other’s hands in death as they had done in life. He stood over their bodies and roared, his dragon joining him in combined sorrow.
Putting his hand in his pocket, he withdrew his phone as the tears he had been holding flowed down his face.
“Troy, it’s Pete. Get to the island and bring company. My family has been murdered. I’m going to search for the scumbag ’til you get here.”
Taking a last look at his family as he passed their prone bodies, Pete walked out of the cottage and shifted. At this point, if any human was on the island he didn’t care if he was seen or not; both he and his dragon were out for revenge.
“Pete?”
The sweet sound of his mate pulled him out of the past nightmare and to the present. Lifting his gaze from the floor, he found her looking at him, her eyes full of pity. She was close enough he could feel the warmth from her body.
“I have no idea how or why, but it’s as if I can feel your pain,” she said, stepping toward him and placing a hand on his chest. “We don’t have to stay here. Didn’t you say you had your own place near the sea?”
Oh God, he loved this woman. His heart was currently filled with so much pain, and yet through it all he could see that tiny ray of sunshine thanks to Wendy.
She grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him from the building and shut the door. “Come on, big boy, take me home.” She squeezed his hand, and then bent to pick up a small bag.
Releasing her hand to gather the remaining bags was a lose he couldn’t seem to bear at that moment, so with one hand still clasped in hers he picked up as many of the bags as he could with his free hand. He would return to get the others later.
They walked to his place and went inside. He placed their luggage on the floor and stood in the living area looking around. Compared to his place in London and the other homes he had dotted around the globe, this was definitely the smallest, even with it having three bedrooms. Wendy plonked the bag she’d been carrying onto the floor and walked into the kitchen. It wasn’t very big, but had enough room for a cooker and fridge, as well as a small, round kitchen table with four chairs in the corner of the room. He smiled as she made herself at home and immediately went about making coffee.
With the place smelling of the homely aroma he relaxed a little and lifted their luggage to take them to the master bedroom. The room was just big enough to hold a king-size bed with two nightstands on either side of it. Two built-in wardrobes were the only other furniture in the room. His father had laughed when he’d seen the bed in the room.
“Son, I know you’re a big man, but wow, talk about comfort.” He chuckled. “I find it’s nice to curl up with your mate. When you have her in your arms with a limited amount of space it can be quite homely. Although, I will admit that some nights to have that amount of space,” he said, nodding toward the bed, “would have been a blessing too.”
Looking at the bed and remembering his father, Pete didn’t know what to feel. It felt like he’d lost his family yesterday, not all those years ago. Maybe coming back to the island hadn’t been the best of ideas? At that moment he was tempted to sell the whole damn island and be done with it.
Let us fly, his dragon suggested. Enjoy the peace of the clouds and water.
What about Wendy?
Time to tell her before you decide to go back to London. This doesn’t feel like home no more.
Pete nodded. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to lose both his family again and his mate in one day, but what the hell? He was in a world of pain anyway. Taking his phone from his pocket, he called his friend.
“What’s up, got fed up being by yourself already?” Troy started laughing at his own joke.
“Ha-ha, very funny. No, I was wondering if I could get your help. How long would it take you and your mate to get to the island? I could do with some support, if you know what I mean.”
“I have no idea how you waited this long before taking her. You’re lucky we’re at the beach house with my parents, so we can fly there. It will take us about half an hour on the wing, but a little bit longer being I’ll have to tear my mate away from our son.”
“See you then.” Disconnecting the call, Pete felt a little better knowing help was on its way.
Walking down the narrow staircase, he watched his mate potter around the kitchen. He wanted his hands over her, her hands over him. He wanted to mate her, to sink his teeth into her shoulder an
d forever be tied with her. He wanted what his parents had. Being here on this island made being without her worse.
“Wendy.”
She turned toward him, and a smile lit up her face.
“I, umm, I have something to show you. Will you join me?” he asked.
“Of course.”
She took the hand he held out toward her. They walked along the beach in silence until he began to tell her about his family and the island.
“My family has owned this land for a very long time. My father bought it off some bird watcher who was dying. He had no family, so he left all his millions in a trust fund. That trust was run by people who loved nature as much as he did. The stipulation the man placed on selling the island was that it had to remain a bird sanctuary, and the trust would make sure of that by hiring a caretaker to watch over both the lighthouse and the island. My father suspected it was also to make sure that we didn’t build anything that would piss off nature and its birds. Not having any desire to build the place up anyway, my father agreed, and for many years we lived here on the island without any trouble...until that night. Do you believe in magic, Wendy?” He twisted his head to see her face. She was looking over the sea with such love he didn’t want this moment to end.
“Magic…mmm…I suppose in a way I do. There are plenty of things in this world that can’t be explained. Why?” She looked at him, her gaze meeting his.
“I want to show you something, but I’m afraid if I do I will lose you.” He looked away from her and over the sea. “I can’t lose you, Wendy. You are the woman I have been seeking for most of my life, the woman who can give me what I desperately desire.”
Turning back to her, he lifted his hands and cupped her chilled face. He slammed his lips over hers and began kissing her for all his worth. She met him with equal fervor. He pulled away, because if he carried on kissing her his secret wasn’t going to be told and his dragon was riding his arse.
Grabbing hold of her hand, he continued walking down the beach. He could already see where he was heading, and he felt comfort from it. A cave; it was in fact his parents’ den, the place where his parents and their dragons stored their treasure. Wendy had been correct about the family money buying his place in London. When he had left the island that night twenty-six years ago he had taken a few diamonds from his father’s pile and used it to buy his apartment. His magic was healing, unlike his father, who had a knack for finding gems.
