She hugged herself as she turned to face him. “No. I suppose part of me hoped it might not be true.”
His eyes darkened and the deep glow returned. A burnished orange infused with streaks of copper swirled around and around, mesmerizing her, luring her to him. She leaned forward, licking her lips before she blinked and broke the spell.
“You don’t want to be my mate?” Uncertainty crossed his face and he swallowed hard.
“I don’t want to be anyone’s mate.” That wasn’t true. As she traveled across the world, seeking out shifters, she’d often experienced a pang of jealousy when she saw a shifter family. They always seemed so settled, the lack of uncertainty over the relationship of a shifter and their mate had an appeal.
If she accepted Ivan as her mate, she would never have to doubt his loyalty. She’d never have to worry if he was out drinking with his buddies or secretly seeing another woman on the side. Larisa had seen the repercussions of that scenario played out and the damage it wrought.
A couple of years ago, Simon had been engaged to the woman of his dreams. They had a wedding date set, the caterers booked, and Angela had even picked out her dress. Everything was perfect. Until she squashed Simon’s dreams.
Angela worked in finance and often traveled for work, staying in hotels with other members of her team.
Simon had trusted her. They were in love. They were getting married.
Angela had gone to a conference on her birthday. Simon had driven to the hotel she was staying at to give her a surprise. He’d taken a cake and her gifts, only to find her in bed with another man.
With a heart crushed into a million pieces, he’d come home and never dated again.
“I’m not going to force myself on you,” Ivan said.
“You can bet your life you’re not!” Larisa retorted.
“I didn’t mean it like...” He sucked in a deep breath, his broad chest rising and falling as he exhaled. “I meant that it’s your choice whether you accept being my mate. You have free will.”
“But you don’t.” She pressed her lips into a straight line as she studied him.
A small smile filled with irony crept over his lips. Lips she longed to kiss. It was as if he’d put a spell on her. Did dragons have magic? Magic that was deeper than the ability to shift?
“I have no choice. No free will. There’s only ever been you. And there will only ever be you.” His heartfelt words pierced her heart. This guy, who she’d just met, had no choice. It wasn’t his fault they were bound together by fate. He was as much a victim as she was.
“I can’t promise you I’ll ever feel the same way,” she replied.
“I’m not asking you to.” He held out his hands as if offering her the world, or at the very least his soul. “All I ask is that you give me a chance. You give us a chance.”
“I can do that.” She put her hands on her hips. “But not until I’ve helped my dad finally move on from what happened all those years ago.”
“You intend to track down the owner of the pendant.” Ivan didn’t seem too happy about that.
“I do. I made a promise to myself that I’d do whatever it took to help my dad. He sacrificed so much for me and Simon. He raised us single-handedly when our mom passed away. He never once put himself before us.” Tears pricked her eyes. “I need to repay him.”
“Then we’d better get started.” He sighed as if he’d taken on the weight of her task and let it rest on his shoulders.
“I am not asking you to help me.”
“I know. But I’m offering my help to you. If you want it.” He turned away from her and plunged his hands into his pockets as he stared back at the house. “Before I met you, all I wanted to do was go back to Wishing Moon Bay and get back to work. I never needed to know what happened to my parents. It’s in the past. A past I feel disconnected from.”
“But now?” She closed the distance between them and placed her hand on his shoulder. He visibly jumped as if he’d been struck by a bolt of electricity. Larisa felt it, too. Her fingers tingled, a sensation that spread up her arm, infusing her with warmth.
“If we have children…” He glanced down at her, his eyes aflame. “I want them to have a history. I want them to know where they came from and who their grandparents were.”
“Didn’t it ever bother you? Growing up without knowing your family history must have been tough. Simon told me you were raised by a woman named Valerie, but you had no idea where you came from.” Larisa couldn’t imagine not knowing who her parents were. She was a part of them, and they were a part of her even though her mom had died when she was young.
Her father had made sure that their mom was still a big part of Larisa and Simon’s lives. He’d talk about the things they had done and the places they had visited. Davy spoke of their hopes and dreams, of their plans for the future. A future that never came to fruition.
“Valerie and my brothers were my family. Are my family. Valerie loves me. She taught me everything I know, she raised me to always try to do the right thing and to work hard to achieve my dreams.” He caught hold of her hand and held it in his. Heat radiated from him as if dragon fire burned beneath his skin. “She also taught me to open my heart to others.”
“I don’t want to ruin what you have with your family. With Valerie. You have your reasons for not looking into your past in the same way I have reasons to search until I have uncovered the truth.” She placed her hand on his heart, feeling the steady thump and gaining comfort from it. “If our future truly is with each other, I don’t want to spoil it before it’s even begun. I don’t want you to feel as if you owe me anything because we’re mates.”
“We don’t owe each other anything.” He smiled softly, the glow from his eyes fading. “I want to do this for us. For you and me and our family. It’s time I summoned the courage to question the past and search out answers.”
“I’m ready when you are,” Larisa replied.
“Then we’d better get started. It’s a long drive to Wishing Moon Bay.”
Chapter Four – Ivan
“Is there something you want to tell me, Ivan?” Davy was seated in his usual place in the living room with his recliner tilted back. It faced a large window with a view over a distant mountain, its lower slopes covered in thick forest while its peak was obscured by clouds.
Ivan drew his gaze from the view and his dream of flying to the distant peak with his mate on his back. His dragon longed to feel her legs wrapped around him as they raced the clouds across the sky. When they reached the swirling clouds surrounding the peak, they would be hidden from the world around them, just a dragon and his mate alone in the wild.
“Tell you?” Ivan used his senses to track his mate. She was in the room above them, packing for their trip to Wishing Moon Bay.
We’re bringing our mate home, his dragon puffed smoke from his nostrils as he sighed in contentment. They’d almost given up on that dream.
“Yes.” Davy’s pale eyes focused on Ivan, staring at him as if he could see the thoughts swirling in his head. But they were hidden from Davy Westward in the same way as the mountain peak. His thoughts were impenetrable. “When we met last, you were adamant you didn’t want to rake over the past. You refused to help me figure out who the pendant belonged to... Yet here we are.”
“Here we are,” Ivan repeated.
“So why the sudden change? How did Larisa persuade you when I couldn’t?” Despite his age and his self-imposed seclusion, Davy had a shrewd eye and a steely gaze that Ivan found uncomfortable to bear. He felt as if he were back at school and had been caught misbehaving. Not that he ever got into too much trouble. His love and gratitude toward Valerie left him with no desire to cause her pain and heartache.
However, there were times, particularly after his first shift, when he’d spent so many hours exploring the world as a dragon that he’d fall asleep in class or forget his homework.
Davy was looking at him in the same way as his old math teacher.
> We should tell Davy that she’s our mate, his dragon said.
Don’t you think Larisa should be the one to tell him? Ivan answered. It’s not up to us. Not if she would rather keep it a secret.
Why would she keep it a secret from her father? Davy would be pleased that we’re her mate. He knows a dragon will protect his mate from any threat. His dragon stretched and stood up.
Our father couldn’t protect himself or our mother. They died at the hand of another dragon shifter. The same dragon shifter we’re about to go hunt down. Larisa is already putting herself in danger. Even without being our mate.
You mean the mate of the son this dragon shifter killed. You think he’ll want us dead, too? His dragon inhaled deeply and sucked in air, which he immediately turned to dragon fire. As he opened his mouth, he forced the fire out in a scorching plume that would incinerate anything in its path. If he ever unleashed it on the real world.
Something he’d never done. So far.
But so far, they had not had a mate to protect. The stakes had never been this high.
“I can see how much it matters to you and your children,” Ivan began. “And I started to think about...how I am letting my parents down by not uncovering the truth. It hadn’t even occurred to me before. But seeing how much it means to Larisa and Simon, I...I suppose I feel as if I failed them. As if I am disrespecting their memory.”
If we had such a memory, his dragon added.
“Are you afraid?” Davy asked.
“Never,” Ivan answered without thought. But perhaps he should be afraid. Not for himself but for his mate.
“You’re not afraid that if you discover the truth and your truth is also discovered, that you and your family might be in danger?” Davy had a laser-sharp skill at assessing a situation.
Ivan bowed his head. “I suppose I am afraid that if I don’t act and I ever have children, they might get caught up in all of this. That they might be in danger.”
“Or that they might grow up as orphans, too?” Davy lowered his gaze and stared at the floor with its faded carpet. The whole room needed a fresh coat of paint. The furniture was comfortable but shabby. However, he doubted Davy would enjoy the upheaval of moving his chair from the view of the mountain for even a day.
“Did my father ever fly over the mountain?” Ivan stepped toward the window and the view beyond.
“He took me there once.” Davy rested his elbow on the arm of his chair and closed his eyes. “I can still feel the wind on my face. The beat of his wings and the thrill of being on the back of a living creature. I felt alive. Invincible. Like I knew a secret that no one else knew.”
Ivan nodded and left Davy to his memory as Larisa came down the stairs.
We will give Larisa a similar memory, his dragon promised. One that will stay with her for all the years of her long life.
“Okay, I’m ready to go.” Larisa entered the room with a backpack slung over her shoulder and a suitcase in her hand.
Immediately, Ivan was drawn to her, and all other thoughts slipped away. It was a similar sensation to when he’d first sensed the tiara. His focus became laser sharp and everything outside of the tiara held no meaning.
“Ivan was just telling me why he’d changed his mind about tracking down the owner of the pendant.” Davy pushed himself out of his chair and walked to his daughter with faltering steps.
“Was he?” Larisa arched an eyebrow at him, and he shook his head almost imperceptibly.
“Yes.” Davy studied his daughter’s expression. “You don’t need to do this.”
Larisa dropped her suitcase to the floor and opened her arms, hugging her father as tears sparkled in her eyes. “I do have to do this. We’re so close. If we don’t see this through to the end, everything else will have been for nothing.”
“You could just walk away. Go with Ivan and live a happy life together.” Davy’s mouth turned down at the corners as he looked from Larisa to Ivan. “I have seen that look before. Whenever your father looked at your mother, Ivan.”
“I should have told you,” Larisa whispered. “But I didn’t want you to worry.”
“I know.” Davy reached for Ivan’s hand and drew the dragon shifter toward him. When they were close enough, he took his daughter’s hand and placed it in Ivan’s. “You have my blessing. For what it’s worth.”
Ivan bowed his head, glad the truth was out in the open. “It’s worth a lot to me.”
“That’s not why I’m going to Wishing Moon Bay,” Larisa said bluntly. “I’m going to find this other dragon shifter. Not because I intend to go play house.”
Davy leaned back and laughed, the sound cracked as if seldom used. “I never thought you were.” Then he sobered and locked eyes with his daughter. “But after this is over, you should make a home with Ivan. I’m not telling you to play house. A good marriage is not something you play at.”
“I love you, Dad.” Larisa didn’t let go of Ivan’s hand as she threaded her arm around her dad’s shoulders and pulled him close. “When this is over, you need to promise me you’ll move on.”
“When this is over, you can give me some grandchildren to dote on. That’ll give me a reason to move on.” He kissed her cheek and then turned away to hide his tears. “Now, go on, Zara and Karros are waiting outside.” He walked to the window that overlooked the front of the house. “Goodness only knows what your brother has been talking to them about all this time.”
“I’ll see you soon, Dad. I’ll call you when we get to Wishing Moon Bay.” She reached for her suitcase, but Ivan grabbed it first. “I can manage.”
“I know. But I was raised in a hotel. Carrying other people’s cases is a habit.” He winked at her, and she let it go.
I don’t recall the last time you offered to carry anyone’s cases, his dragon chuckled. Not since you became a serious chef. I thought it was beneath you.
Nothing is beneath me when it comes to our mate, Ivan replied.
They left the house. Davy didn’t follow, instead, he stood in the window looking out at them as they met the others by Zara’s car. They were deep in conversation but looked up as Ivan and Larisa approached.
“Ready to leave?” Zara glanced at Simon and nodded before she went around to the back of the car and popped the trunk. “Put Larisa’s stuff in here.”
“Thanks, Zara.” Ivan lifted the suitcase and placed it in the trunk and Larisa swung the pack off her shoulder and slotted it in beside it.
Zara closed the trunk and went back to Karros who was still talking to Simon. “We need to get on the road.”
Simon nodded and switched his attention to his sister. “I should be going, not you.”
“Who has more experience at tracking down dragon shifters?” She wrapped her arms around her brother’s neck and hugged him. “Take care of Dad.”
“I will.” Simon held her tightly. “Please be careful. I don’t think he could stand to lose anyone else. But especially not you.”
“I don’t intend to do anything stupid,” she assured him and looked at Ivan over her brother’s shoulder. “And there’s no knowing if this shifter is in Wishing Moon Bay. It might be a wild goose chase and I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Maybe. But it sounds as if there are a lot more dragons in Wishing Moon Bay than anywhere else. And Dad did always say that he suspected Andor had been banished from his own people. We always thought that meant a tribe or a remote indigenous people. I think we were wrong.” Simon shrugged. “We’ve been chasing our tails all these years with no hope of finding him. Even with the pendant.”
“Things happen when they are supposed to happen,” Karros stated. “That’s what my grandma always says. And she’s the wisest woman I have ever met. Probably the wisest of all the fae.”
“Then maybe that’s where your search should start,” Simon suggested. “She might have some information that might help.”
Karros shuffled his feet and looked at Ivan before he looked away. There was someone else they
could ask. Someone who knew a lot about the goings-on in Wishing Moon Bay. Someone who was possibly as old as the dragons themselves.
Well, not quite, Ivan’s dragon said. If you mean Silas.
Of course I mean Silas. But Ivan didn’t want to ask the vampire for any favors. Silas had already extracted promises from Logan and Dario and their mates.
Blank promises. His dragon puffed out a cloud of smoke that concealed his head, hiding his seething scorn for the vampire and the control he had over Ivan’s brothers and their mates.
“Do you think she’ll help us?” Ivan asked.
“Are you really thinking of going to the fae realm?” Karros didn’t hide his concerns.
“I am. If it’s what we need to do to solve this mystery.” Ivan sidestepped toward the car. “We should get going. I want to make an early start tomorrow. We have a lot of ground to cover.”
“You do know that as soon as we set foot in Wishing Moon Bay, if the dragon you’re looking for is on the dragon isle, he might sense the pendant and come for you,” Karros said bluntly.
“I’m ready for him if that happens,” Ivan replied.
We have no experience in fighting dragons, his dragon replied cautiously.
We’ll figure it out, Ivan replied, his rage simmering beneath his skin. The dragon who owned the pendant had caused enough misery. Ivan vowed he would bring an end to the suffering.
Whatever it took.
Chapter Five – Larisa
“What’s it like?” Larisa asked as they drove through the late afternoon, heading toward a town she had never heard of and that didn’t exist to most people.
“Wishing Moon Bay?” Ivan half-turned to face her. He’d been staring out of the window for the last half an hour or so. She suspected he wasn’t looking at the scenery.
So what was on his mind?
“Yes. Is it like any other town?” She gave him a lopsided grin. “It’s a stupid question, right?”
“No, not at all.” He wrinkled his brow as he considered her question.
“You said shifters were out in the open. I suppose what I’m asking is whether random wild animals are walking the streets or do most people stick to their human form?” She had a fear that she would mistake a real wild bear for a shifter, and it would eat her alive because she dared not pepper spray it or blow a loud horn in its face.
The Dragon Shifter's Desire: A Wishing Moon Bay Shifter Romance Page 3
