The Rookie

by Abigail Owen

  This Aidan was real.

  Before he could kiss her back, or she tried to take it further, the rest of her sleep-fog drifted away, and harsh reality intruded. She was in her bedroom, the pale light of early morning filtering in through the white blinds and curtains covering her window.

  Aidan was here to keep her safe. Only to keep her safe.

  I shouldn’t be doing this.

  With a groan, Sera dropped back to the bed, flopping an arm across her eyes so she didn’t have to see his reaction. “Sorry.”

  After a long silence, he cleared his throat. “You were having a nightmare.”

  Sera huffed a bitter-tinted laugh at that. If he only knew. The things he’d done to her in that shower. “I’m fine now.”

  She would be as soon as she could pull herself together. For that he needed to leave, but Aidan didn’t leave. His presence filled the room. Like always.

  Curiosity pulled her arm down to find him staring at her, brows furrowed. “Can I help you with something?”

  He searched her expression with a frown. “You don’t sound fine.”

  He was concerned for her. No wonder, given her behavior. With an irritated flick, she tossed her covers back. “It’ll take a second for that…bad dream to get out of my system. You don’t need to worry that I’ll try to kiss you again or need to cry on your shoulder or anything.”

  Except she wouldn’t mind laying her head on his shoulder, letting his strength absorb some of her burden. But that was a bad idea and one he wouldn’t welcome. Better to get up.

  He stood at the same time she did, facing her across the bed, but instead of rushing out the door, he stilled, his gaze traveling down her body. At first, Sera was too caught up in doing the same to notice his reaction.

  All Aidan wore was a pair of boxers—showing her exactly what kind of shape he was in. Broad shoulders tapered to narrow hips, strong legs, and abs that had way more than six ridges, only she was too muddled to count. Arms strong enough to hold up the whole damn world. Arms she wanted around her.

  Did the man not have an ounce of fat on his body?

  Finally, his own lazy perusal sank in, and Sera had to resist the urge to cover up. Not because her PJ shorts and top were thin—they were black with stretchy lace at the neck and the cuffs of the shorts. Perfectly respectable, if on the feminine side. What had her uncomfortable was the comparison.

  She’d given birth. Her hips were wider, her belly softer, bearing a series of crisscrossing white stretch marks. She ran regularly, and her job kept her up and moving most of the day, especially in harvest season when she pitched in with the grapes, so she was in decent shape.

  But compared to all that…

  Needing to hide her reaction, Sera wrinkled her nose. “Why are you half naked?”

  Aidan glanced down at himself, eyebrows raised as if in surprise. “Sorry. I thought you were in trouble.”

  No accusation lingered in the words, but the press of guilt made its presence felt anyway. Aidan was still the rookie of his crew, even if the position was now permanent. More than that, she knew he was trying to prove himself over and above the other shifters. He would take guarding her seriously.

  Sera went to her drawer and started pulling out clothes. “You don’t have to stay every night,” she said. “Some of the others could.”

  Except she really wanted Aidan here. Not because of the chemistry thing. That was a pain in her backside. But because he made her feel inexplicably safe. Of all the men in the Huracáns, she would turn to Aidan first in anything she needed. Stupid really. Irrational. But there you had it.

  “This is an assignment,” he said.

  Ouch. There went any illusions she might’ve had that he did this because he cared. She should know better by now.

  He might be hundreds of years old, though he only appeared to be in his late twenties, the same age as her, but she felt like she was at least a hundred. Ancient.

  Clothes in hand, she turned to face him. “I’m going to shower.”

  Shower. Why the hell had she said that? The memory of the dream was still too fresh. When he didn’t move or look away, she had to beat back the urge to try that morning kiss all over again. Her bed, with its twisted sheets, beckoned.

  “You should shower, too.” The second the words left her lips she had to clutch her clothes to keep from slapping a hand over her mouth. Way to go down the suggestive route. “I mean…not with me.”

  Jeez, she was making this worse, and now her mind was filled with dirty images. Fantastic images of that hard body pounding away all her concerns.

  Stop it. “You’d shower alone. Of course.”

  Crap, now her mind and her mouth were on a runaway train.

  Only, he didn’t immediately run screaming from her room—or the manly version of that. Instead, Aidan watched her closely. Were his lips twitching?

  She narrowed her eyes. “You better not be laughing at me.”

  Aidan held up both his hands. “I’ll go get that shower. Alone. Not in yours.”

  He was out the door, closing it behind him with a loud snick in the silence he left in his wake. Only the wanting didn’t leave with him.

  Sometimes it felt like she wasn’t quite whole without him in the room.

  Chapter Seven

  The mouthwatering scent of strong coffee drove Aidan out of his room. That was the excuse he gave himself. He’d showered—for real this time and without Sera—and dressed but was trying to give her some space.

  Him, too.

  That kiss on top of one of the more erotic dreams he’d ever had of the two of them might’ve also had something to do with a reluctance to spend time directly in her presence. But he was hungry.

  The kitchen, like the rest of her apartment, was homey with the same rustic accoutrements, but lived in, like the living room. Small pots of herbs sat soaking up the sun streaming in through the window over the sink. Various kinds of berries lay on a paper towel to the left, still drying and filling the room with scents of summer. And on the fridge was a homemade calendar with a picture of Sera and Blake and red X marks through each day in a childish hand, counting down the time till school started.

  Her home.

  It struck him all over again that they had invaded Sera’s life. Her fears and frustrations, and the need to get away, suddenly made a hell of a lot more sense. Guilt chased any remaining desire right out the window.

  Sera had also dressed, her chin-length blond hair darker when wet, curled around her ears. She’d dressed in her winery uniform of shorts and a red polo shirt with the logo on the breast. Back to him, she didn’t appear to notice his approach as she scrambled eggs, sizzling away in the pan, while she talked into a phone lodged between her shoulder and ear.

  “You got to climb in a cave?” she asked.

  She must be talking to Blake.

  “How high?” That question came out less enthusiastic and more motherly. “Wow. I hope Kanta had a good hold of you.”

  Aidan didn’t need his enhanced hearing to pick up Blake’s grumble of irritation. “Ah, Mom. I’m an awesome climber.”

  “Yes, you are,” she agreed.

  “Gotta go, Mom. Titus is letting me work out with him in the gym.”

  “Okay. Love you, buddy. Put Delaney on the phone.”

  She said the last bit in a rush but got no answer.

  “Blake?”

  Silence.

  Sera sighed and hung up.

  “He’s just excited,” Aidan said, stepping into the kitchen.

  Sera jumped before facing him and Aidan paused, hands up. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

  He reached out, intending to squeeze her arm. Except she stepped out of reach.

  “No problem.” She returned her attention to the eggs.

  Driven by an idiotic grate of rejection, Aidan deliberately stepped closer, crowding her in the small space of the kitchen. Sera stiffened, but he reached around her to snag a pinch of cheese from a bowl on the co
unter.

  She smacked his hand with her free one. “That’s for the eggs.”

  Aidan chuckled as he stepped back, despite frustration running beneath the amusement like that cheese grater on his skin. His dick and his dragon were both urging him to spin her around and see if that kiss in her bedroom was still as hot. Not that he could let himself. But damn the woman smelled incredible. He’d never get over the sun-warmed earth and sweet grapes scent of her.

  Meanwhile Sera kept her walls up.

  Maybe she’d loosen up if he went for a topic she always liked to talk about. “Blake must be in hog heaven.”

  Sera grinned. “Yeah,” she agreed. “I’m glad he’s distracted.”

  “You’re a wonderful mom.”

  She tossed him a smile over shoulder. “Thanks. I try, but it’s hard sometimes…”

  He got the feeling that she’d meant to say more but decided against it. “Do you miss Blake’s dad a lot?”

  Her head dipped lower, and Aidan silently kicked himself for bringing up her painful past.

  “Yes,” she said. “We were best friends. College sweethearts. We got married young, had Blake young. He’s all I knew. But he died five years ago, when Blake was still a baby, so I’m used to doing this on my own by now.”

  Aidan eyed her back, suspecting there was more. “Except?” he prodded.

  “Sometimes there are decisions I have to make, or situations I have to deal with, about the winery or Blake…” She shrugged but still refused to face him. “It’d be nice to have another person equally invested to bounce things off of.”

  Decisions like leaving them?

  The bite of hearing that had only lessened a little bit since last night. Still, he could also see how hard that had to have been. Making that choice alone.

  And he’d never seen it in her—that pressure, the turmoil. Sera was always cheerful, like sunshine walked into a room. Sure, he’d always been able to see that she held back her real emotions, but he hadn’t expected this. This empty, aching loneliness that made him want to hold her, fix it for her. “I can see that. Dragons live in communities. We don’t trust rogues for a reason.” It’s why he’d jumped at the chance Lyndi gave him to have a community. Being orphaned was bad enough, and while his community hadn’t pushed him out right away, he’d known it was coming, and it would’ve been a death sentence. “What do you humans say? It takes a village?”

  A rogue was fair game for not only dragon shifters to take down, but for any other paranormal creatures out there who saw a lone dragon as open season. Only the strongest, meanest fuckers survived, which made them even more dangerous. Dragons might be the most feared, the top of the food chain, but they weren’t liked. That was for damn sure. But he’d had the other boys at the orphanage, and now he had the Huracán team.

  Sera managed to smile and frown at the same time, whipping the eggs like they’d done something horrible to her. “A village would be nice.”

  Her village was gone—her parents, her husband. “What was he like?”

  Her hand paused. “Who? Devlin?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why do you want to know?”

  “Why not?” he tossed back.

  That had her looking directly at him finally. She paused, mouth open slightly, but he could see the debate in her eyes. Ignore him or be honest? “You’ve never cared before.”

  Apparently, she decided on honest.

  Aidan set his feet and shot her a direct look. “That’s not true.”

  “Okay.” She dismissed him, turning back to spoon the eggs onto two plates.

  He waited until they were both seated at her small wood kitchenette table, fluffy eggs steaming in front of them and Aidan balancing on a wooden chair meant for a person half his size. Sera studiously ignored him, salted her eggs, and dug right in.

  “I do care, Sera.” Stupid to fix her wrong impression, because if he left it alone, that would help him keep the safe distance he should be.

  Screw that. He didn’t want to be safe anymore.

  She glanced up, then sighed. “You don’t have to say that.”

  He covered her hand with hers, shocked to find her trembling, even as she stilled under his touch. “I’m not saying it to be nice. I mean it.”

  An adorable blush stained her skin, creeping up her neck into her face.

  A small voice in his head, the logical side of him, whispered that he should drop the subject and back off. But something had changed in him. Maybe that kiss—a real kiss—or perhaps her leaving once they solved her dragon issue had flipped a switch in him. Instead of resisting the pull she had on him, he wanted to give in to it.

  Humans weren’t off-limits for casual relationships. Look at Rivin and Keighan. Those two hornballs, who insisted sharing was a fuckton more fun than going solo in bed, had a constant stream of willing human women. Most of the guys had casual hookups, and even a few relationships that lasted as long as the woman didn’t question how they weren’t aging.

  So, no. Not entirely off-limits.

  Granted, Sera knew what he was, and that was against the laws the kings of the clans had laid down centuries ago. Hell, millennia ago. Laws he’d sworn to uphold. However, her knowing was out of his hands, and not his fault.

  Fuck it.

  Aidan set his fork down a little too hard, the utensil flattening as it dug into the wood top of her table.

  “Hey!”

  He grabbed her hand when she went to check the damage and captured her gaze when she looked up. “I keep my distance because I like you too much.”

  Twin blooms of red rose over her high cheekbones, and the small catch as she held her breath was music to his fucking ears.

  What if she might stay? If she knew I wanted her…

  Aidan moved to the edge of his chair, needing to get closer. “I didn’t think I could afford the distraction, but now I don’t give a shit.”

  “Distraction?” she echoed, her eyes cloudy, like shadows over the ocean.

  “I’m the first dragon from the colonies to join an enforcer crew. Enforcers don’t come from here, and they damn sure aren’t orphans. I can’t fuck that up. They’d use me as an excuse not to let anyone else like me have a shot. I have to do this right, especially for the others out there.”

  Her brows drew down over her eyes. “And I’d…mess that up for you?”

  Aidan smiled, reaching out to run the pad of his thumb over her lower lip. “I told you. A distraction.”

  Sera’s eyes snapped from cloudy to alert in an instant and she sat straighter, away from his touch. “I’d be a problem.”

  Aidan wasn’t sure where this conversation went off the rails, but her tone said he’d fucked this up. He eased back, studying her angry body language. “Yes.”

  “So…you being a dragon shifter isn’t a problem for me?”

  Irritation lanced through him. Why was he suddenly the bad guy? “You don’t understand—”

  “I understand perfectly. I’d be a fun piece on the side while it lasts, is that it? Blow off some steam. But no worries if that puts me or Blake in a shitstorm of danger. Right?”

  Aidan blinked. Sera never swore.

  Fuck. I am an asshole.

  He’d let himself be blinded for a millisecond by the fantasy of having her in his life, making those times they spent together in their dreams a reality. A selfish reality that would only hurt her in the end.

  “It doesn’t matter anyway, because the answer is no,” she snapped, standing up, her chair scraping across the wood floor with a squeal of protest. “As soon as this dragon setting fires around me situation is solved, we’re out of here.”

  She stalked to the counter and grabbed her cell phone, into which she then pushed a series of numbers before holding it up to her ear.

  “Who are you calling?” Aidan asked. She had to make a call now?

  “Feel free to continue to keep your distance,” she said, hand on her hip, phone still to her ear. “I’ll get one of the other g
uys to guard me.”

  “Who are you calling?” he demanded. She couldn’t ask Finn for someone else. This was Aidan’s assignment, and he had no intention of messing that up.

  Except he already had, letting hormones hijack his common sense.

  “Delaney?” The tone of her voice indicated Delaney had already picked up.

  Aidan acted on instinct. In a flash, he crossed the room and snatched the phone from her hand.

  “Hey!” Sera protested, coming after him. “Give that back.”

  Childishly he held it in the air, well above her reach. Aidan was damn glad none of the others were here to see this, because as moments went, this was a real low.

  “Jerk.” Sera slammed both hands into his chest, but he didn’t budge. Not even rocking back a little. Which only made her angrier, her petite form practically vibrating with it.

  Then he saw it.

  As she glared up at him, jaw locked, her hands in fists at her side, her eyes shifted. They were turquoise human eyes one second, and dragon eyes, with slit pupils and even brighter hued irises, the next, before returning human.

  “Holy shit!” Aidan dropped the phone and grabbed her by the shoulders, staring intently at her, waiting for it to happen again. His stomach clenched as the reality of the situation struck him hard in the solar plexus. This couldn’t be happening. Not when she was almost his.

  Sera, who apparently had zero clue what happened, struggled in his grasp. “Let me go, you overbearing, self-centered ass.”

  Aidan did, but not because she asked. Instead he snatched the phone off the floor where he’d dropped it, Delaney’s small voice getting louder as he brought it to his ear.

  “I think we have a…” Aidan searched for a word. Not a problem. “A situation.”

  “Damn right you have a situation,” Sera grumbled, arms crossed as she glared at him.

  He ignored her. “I think Sera might be a dragon mate.”

  …

  “What?” Sera gave a mental wince at how wispy her voice came out. She couldn’t have heard that right.

  Aidan glanced up from whatever Delaney was saying in his ear, and his expression shifted. She must’ve looked god-awful because he immediately said, “I’ll call you back,” into the receiver before hanging up on Delaney mid-sentence.