by Jill Haven
My heart pumped hard as I ran. Haiden. I hadn’t been able to get him out of my head. I felt happy even though that emptiness that hadn’t left me since I met Haiden was still a hole dug in my chest, notched behind my breastbone.
Haiden wouldn’t get out of my every waking thought, but Larkin had to be wrong. I wasn’t a man prone to fits of fancy, and to some degree I was still having trouble believing in mates, and fate, and Divine Omegas. Sure, dragons exist, but the rest of the magical nonsense was asking a bit much from me when two weeks ago I’d been happily behind my desk tallying numbers on my laptop. The modern world was built on science and reason.
My front feet lifted off the ground as I beat my wings harder, and my heart grew light. I snorted more sparks, chuffing out my excitement in a call to Mason. His reply carried to me from far back, just a single noise that could be mistaken for a coyote or dog to the untrained ear. My dragon, which sometimes felt like its own being, seemed to like that idea of Haiden being my mate, meant to belong to only me, and I wanted to go linger near his home; I needed to make sure he was protected. Everything seemed quiet in the wooded area, and I was beginning to think that perhaps Mason was correct and that I was overreacting. My urge to safeguard Haiden seemed to be more an instinct, like breathing, than something I could rationalize away.
Not far from where the tree line broke and gave way to the lawn around Haiden’s building, where the grass was dotted yellow with light from his windows, I caught the scent of another dragon. The smell was potent, smoky, and someone I didn’t know. The muskiness to the odor made me think it was likely another alpha, definitely a male. The scales along my spine stood up, sharp and dangerous. I growled deep in my throat, raising my nose to the wind to sniff out this intruder near my Haiden. Was the alpha trying to steal him from me? Shivering all over, I hunkered close the ground, taking deep whiffs of air and growling to myself as I went.
I made it the whole way to the edge of the lawn, hyperaware of the stench coming from somewhere nearby. Whoever this was smelled all the worse for the fact that they weren’t a Blood dragon. I didn’t want a dragon from another clan near Haiden.
Straining every one of my senses, I tried to pick out where the alpha was. I had a foot on the grass before I saw him. Stiffly perched on the roof of the old house that had been divided into apartments, above the section that I knew—since I’d had to drop from that very window—belonged to Haiden, sat the dragon I’d been smelling. Furious, I streaked forward, running and taking flight as soon as my wings were clear of the trees.
The other dragon flinched and spread his wings, soaring away from me in the opposite direction. He was ugly, a monochrome gray, without any color accents. I couldn’t think through my fury to try to place which clan he might be from. There were more trees that led into the woods on the other side of the apartment building, and he darted between two massive old oaks, skimming the ground before he alighted to run on foot. Growling, I followed, but it was obvious that the alpha knew these woods, because he wasn’t hesitating, and instead sprinted through, while I had to stop and pick my way around all the trees I couldn’t fit between.
Far ahead of me I could hear the swift crack of the shift in the air, bones rearranging and squeezing themselves into some space that didn’t truly exist outside of the magic of our bodies, and then a very human curse. I powered ahead, my talons digging into the earth and scraping tree bark as I used trees to push myself forward, jaws snapping, intent on catching the intruder in his human form and snapping his head clean from his body with my teeth. I licked my tongue along the razor-sharp fangs in my mouth and roared, a noise I shouldn’t have let escape.
The sound of a truck door slamming was close. I hit a fence and let out another roar, some sparks flying into the air to illuminate the twelve-foot wooden structure with a very human-sized door. That must be why he shifted. He didn’t want to pull the fence down and with the trees so close to the fence there was no easy way to get over it. I thought about barreling through, but I could hear the sounds of traffic on the road on the other side, and my common sense returned even though everything in me strained to go after and destroy the alpha. I shifted fast, and it hurt. Gasping and shaking, I stared at my hands, not quite happy with them because they wouldn’t hurt the other dragon as easily. I pushed open the gate and emerged, not caring that I was naked, to see an old red Ford pulling away.
“Goddamn it,” I yelled, but the truck was down the two-lane road disappearing into the distance. Another set of headlights coming the other direction swept over me and slowed. “Shit,” I yelped. My stomach lurched with surprise and I turned to run back through the gate. I wasn’t proud of my retreat, but didn’t want to deal with any horrified locals, and I shifted when I was well into the trees again. This was a mess. I ran back to Mason as fast as I could, chuffing to him at intervals and letting him answer me to make locating him easier.
When I finally found Mason, I urged him toward the spot where we’d left my car, and I rushed through the change again, coming out the other side of it sweating and shaking, hurting all over. Even my eyelashes ached from shifting twice so quickly.
“Hell,” Mason grumbled when he was a naked man at my side. “I’ve never seen anyone change so fast.”
I grabbed my clothes from the pile I’d left on the ground earlier in my excitement to go find Haiden. “Shut up. There was an alpha. I was fucking right.”
“Bullshit,” Mason grumped. I told him about my stilted chase while I dressed, and he sighed.
He crouched, tying his shoes, and looked up at me. It was a bit harder to see his face in my human form, but I could still see most of him in the light from the moon, and he looked every bit as unhappy as I felt.
“You believe me?”
“Yeah. I never thought we’d run into trouble here.” He bared his teeth toward the woods. “Maybe we should call Bishop. Larkin is all well and good for old tall tales about the dragon families, but Bishop deals in knowns. He might be able to help us find out if life mates are real. Maybe he can help us identify this alpha you saw.”
“I didn’t get a good look at his human side. Damn it, I wish I’d have thought to try to see the license plate on his truck. I was just so pissed off.”
Mason shrugged. “It’s done now. Come on. Let’s get back. You scared him off for tonight. Chances of him coming back are slim. If he cared about Haiden the way you do, he would have tried to fight you off, not run.”
In grim silence we rode back to the motel. Mason tried to start a conversation several times, but I didn’t reply. Eventually, he rested his head against the passenger window, the dash lights reflecting in his eyes.
“Stop judging me,” I growled.
He merely laughed and ran a hand through his short black hair and down over his clean-shaven jaw. When we arrived, I slammed the door open to the motel room and didn’t even care that it bounced off the wall.
“Hey, fuck. Watch it,” Mason said as he came in behind me. “Get yourself under control.”
“Leave me alone for a while.”
Mason gave me a dirty look, but he grabbed a six-pack of beer from the mini fridge and stalked back outside again, probably to the old tree that we’d claimed as a lounge spot. He slammed the door closed behind himself.
Taking my phone from my pocket, I scrolled through until I found Bishop’s number. He was gruff, another elder who could have potentially made a push for clan leader, but never had. I respected him and he seemed to respect me; however, he wasn’t the friendliest dragon. I pressed call and waited. The line picked up and no one said anything.
“Bishop?”
“Yes?”
Frowning, I sighed. Bishop was also an alpha, so I always forced myself to be more courteous with him than I might someone else who acted impolite. “Is this a bad time?”
“Is it ever a good one when you call?”
“Not usually.”
“What do you need?” His voice had the low vibration of his dragon in it
, but it usually did. He didn’t beat around the bush and came off as rude, but there wasn’t anyone better than Bishop at getting a job done, any sort of job, even the unsavory ones.
“Information.”
Bishop made a positive noise, and I flopped back onto my bed.
“I need to know everything you know about mates. Not mythology and mumbo jumbo. I have that angle covered from Larkin. Real stuff. Do they exist? Anything you can find on them would be good. I want to know if I’m chasing phantoms here. I’m off looking for healthy shifters to bring into the clan. I’m sure you’ve heard by now about the McGuire death.”
Bishop was silent for longer than I would have liked. I shifted uncomfortably on the bed. “I’m not sure,” he said finally, and there was some noise on the other end, a bottle opening, something being poured. “What’s the sudden interest?”
“Can you help me or not?”
“I’ll try. I’ll make a few calls and see what I can find.”
“Thank you.”
The phone went silent and I looked. The call had ended. “Well, that was fun,” I grumbled but then grinned. With my clan at my back, it was a sure thing I’d get some real answers soon. We always worked well together in a pinch. Mason came back inside not long later, and he shared a beer with me before we both went to bed for the night.
Mason’s breath was even and still in the darkness for maybe an hour. I tossed and turned. There was no resting. I was up and back over at Haiden’s apartment before four in the morning. I couldn’t stop the need to keep watch over him, make sure he was all right, given that it was clear he was a known element in the area. I wasn’t the only one who knew about him and, potentially, what he was. Jade was either lax or overconfident.
Huddled in my jacket in the safety of the woods just beyond his home, my phone vibrated in my pocket. Chilled and tired, I answered, eyes steady on the dark window of Haiden’s apartment where I knew he was sleeping inside, safe and cozy.
“This is Carlisle.”
“Blodwen.”
“Bless you.”
Bishop snorted and laughed, a deep rich sound that held more dragon than most people were capable of when in their human form. It was a comfort.
“That’s the name of the old she-dragon who does the funeral rites.”
“Oh, okay. I didn’t know.” Settling down into the tree curve I’d made my seat, I stared around at the silent forest. No signs of any other dragons, but I couldn’t relax my guard.
Bishop sighed. “Well, she was still in our territory. We had another female and egg die while you were gone.” He paused and my heart thudded to a standstill for a few seconds.
“What? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“You left Agatha in charge. As far as she’s concerned, she’s clan leader right now. You’re no one until you step foot back in Charleston.”
Grunting in acknowledgment, I closed my eyes. “Typical. I left her, Mabel, Donovan, and Larkin in charge.”
“Either way. I sent an email to you. I’m going to bed.”
“Good”—the line fumbled and went silent— “bye.”
Shrugging, I opened my email. The old dragon’s name was Blodwen Bryn, according to Bishop. She’d been happy enough to tell him all about mates. According to her they were very, very real. The email glared brightly from my phone.
CJ,
Blodwen says the signs of having come across your mate are somewhat violent at times, as we dragons can be as a race. The whole mate thing goes beyond wanting to fuck. There’s a need to bite and claim. It allows you to share your vital essence with your mate and put some of your own scent into their skin. She was mystical about it, called it a rare blessing or whatever. She may know more. I’m going to meet with her again. She says you’ll have an almost uncontrollable urge to be near a true mate. It’s not like having a crush, you’re compelled.
Scowling, I glanced up at the window that I really didn’t want to stop staring at, simply because I knew Haiden was in there. I continued reading.
Your heart will struggle to sync up with your life mate’s, which can also be an unsettling feeling, at times painful, until the claim is complete. She had more mystical hooey to say, but the gist of it was “your body won’t settle.” I guess that means you’ll be a hornball, and you’ll be restless until you claim your mate. She said there should be a clan blessing on the union because even historically they’re rare. She said any children from the union of true mates should be strong. She also speculated that we’ve seen fewer mates because they’re less likely to occur within a clan and dragons don’t move much between clans anymore.
B.
Running a hand over my face, I spread my fingers and glanced through them at the window. Yeah, I didn’t want to leave, and it wasn’t just because I ran someone out of here earlier. I wanted to be near him. I forwarded the email to Mason, put my phone away, crossed my arms over my chest, and got as comfortable as I could on the cold ground.
With a jolt, I awoke. The sky was a soft dove-gray overhead and a few birds were chirping nearby in the treetops. I stood and stretched, feeling refreshed even though I doubted I’d slept more than an hour or two all night. I went back to the motel and showered, my head full of ideas about what it might mean to have a mate, especially one like Haiden. He was nearly dainty for a man, slim and beautiful. As I soaped my body, the idea that he was too young tugged at me, even though I knew by human standards he wasn’t, and I’d even been exploring other bodies by his age. Maybe it was the fact that he wasn’t a full dragon that made me want to treat him differently.
The day dragged by. Mason wasn’t doing anything much, just watching movies on his laptop, but his presence began to get under my skin. I paced the room and glared at him until he sat up and flipped me off.
“Go find him and do something about this. Obviously, you’re not going to leave until this issue is resolved, so go. You’re not going to win him over being an ass here.” He checked his phone. “It’s three o’clock. He’s probably at work.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
He shot me a winning smile, his hazel eyes flashing with humor. “Don’t be. I read that email too. If it’s instinct… well, just go make something happen.”
The diner was busy when I arrived there close to four in the afternoon. I was starting to feel tired and loopy, and maybe the tiniest bit strung out from lack of sleep. I had planned to go in the front, but I caught the sweet baby powder smell of Haiden on the air and tracked it around the building to a screen door that looked in on the kitchen. The door was open, and heat poured out into the cool air. I wasn’t disappointed when I caught sight of Haiden working. He was all hard muscles and light grace. He seemed confident moving food to plates and setting them up to go out front on the warming table next to the flattop—so much more at ease than he had been any other time I’d seen him.
I debated leaving and coming back when he wasn’t so busy, but now that I was here and had spied him, I couldn’t make myself do it. The compulsion to go in there and hug him was real and strong, even though that wouldn’t go over well. We barely knew each other.
This is madness.
“Haiden,” I called, before I lost my nerve. He startled and glanced over toward the door. His mouth fell open. He turned toward me and used his thumb to push his glasses up his nose. The shy smile that spread across his face struck me like an arrow in the chest, both hurting and making me feel like I was soaring in the sky.
“Carlisle?”
“Can you talk to me for a minute?”
His smile spread across his face, and I felt my heart ache and race and my skin warmed. “I have a break coming up. I’ll be out in five.”
The wait seemed interminable, but in a few minutes’ time, he was out the back door. He had an apron around his waist and his shirt was spattered with grease, but I’d never seen anyone who looked so beautiful. His pale skin glowed in the late afternoon sunlight and his dark hair sparkled with the same highlights a
s dragon scale when the sunlight struck it. How had I not noticed before? That sweet rose and vanilla smell of his carried through the work dirt to tease me closer to him. I found myself wanting to crowd against his body and forced myself to stand at a respectable distance. I did reach out and take his hand though. My breath caught as sparks raced through my arm and streaked to my belly. His eyes widened, but he let me keep hold of his hand, even tickled my palm with his forefinger.
“I’ve been thinking about you,” I murmured.
He swallowed hard enough that his Adam’s apple bounced in his throat and his eyes widened. He ducked his head. “Me too. You, though, I mean. Darn it. I’ve been wondering about you.”
“What have you wanted to know?”
He glanced up from under his dark eyelashes and my heart flipped. “Everything.”
I licked my dry lips. “Go out with me. Tonight.”
He laughed and bit the corner of his mouth, glancing over his shoulder at the door. “The steakhouse has drinks. People go there sometimes. They stay open late.”
“I’d like that.”
“This place closes up at eight. I can meet you there at—”
“Let me pick you up at home.”
He blinked at me, a careful, shy smile making me want to drag him close. “Okay. Let me explain where I live.” I felt strange as he told me where to find him, since I already knew, but I nodded along anyway.
“I’ll be there.” He was staring again, and he was unearthly in the disappearing light, like a dazzling specter I’d conjured from my imagination. I raised his hand and kissed the knuckles, one by one. My groin tightened, and he swayed closer to me as if he couldn’t help himself. “No confusion between us, please. I’m very interested in you.”
He took a deep, shuddery breath and nodded. It was either kiss him or leave him there, so I went. When I got back to the motel room to get ready for later, thankfully Mason wasn’t underfoot. I could smell him around, so he probably wasn’t far off, but he wasn’t in the room. I got ready as carefully as I would for a board meeting, dragged out the best shirt I’d brought with me and tracked down an iron. I obsessed over every inch of my clothing, smoothing things the way I would have if I were a dragon and preening myself. I dressed and checked myself in the mirror.
