The second red dragon arched back into the sky, roaring with anger. There was nothing that he could do without hurting Wes. Dakota slid to a stop at the edge of the street. She held the stun gun up like her father had taught her years ago, only it had been a rifle last time, not a handheld stun gun. She told herself she knew how to fire it, but doubt wedged itself into her mind. A golden dragon eye fell on her. Wes was wrapped in Raph’s grip, the dragon’s jaws still clinging to his neck.
She leveled the gun at Raph’s head. It wasn’t a real weapon, but GOE carried it. She hoped that meant it would affect the dragon more than she thought. The bang filled the intersection. Her arms bounced, vibrating with the power of the small gun.
Raph’s head jerked. His teeth left Wes’s neck and she could see the stun device in the side of Raph’s head. He shook his massive head as though he could shake it loose. Wes took the free moment to twist his head around. His teeth sank into the soft flesh of Raph’s exposed neck. It made Raph loosen his grip on Wes’s body enough so that he could wriggle free. Wes’s wing’s beat at the air, his giant body rising above the white dragon.
All at once, several vans squealed to a halt from all directions. Men and women dressed in black uniforms spilled into the intersection, weapons trained on the chaos in the center of the intersection. The second red dragon, a creature much larger than Wes, landed on the street. The pavement cracked around his entrance. He placed a taloned hand over the white dragon’s neck. Now free, Wes took to the air.
When none of the weapons trained on the dragon fight rose to Wes, she felt relief flood her. A set of hands grabbed her from behind. She spun around to come face to face with the professor again. The woman held her finger to her lips in the universal sign language for be quiet, using her eyes to gesture to the uniformed Guardians all around them. The woman pulled her back down the alley that Dakota had run from. She was confused, but complied because she didn’t want to become the center of GOE’s attention again.
In the alley, Dakota spied a familiar form. It rushed toward her, gathering her up in his arms. Wesley tucked his face in the crook of her neck and breathed her in. Reflexively, she wrapped her arms around him in return. She held him tight, reliving the past few moments over and over again. He was no longer in Raph’s grip, she told herself. This man, a man you barely know, is safe.
Eventually, the painlessness of adrenaline faded and her shoulder started to throb beneath Wes’s grip. She groaned and he jumped back. His eyes were wide with worry as he searched her up and down. They fell on the bandage.
“I only hope that it hurt Raph even more,” she said, putting on a brave face.
He made a strained sound, before his grip tightened and she could see how he fought the urge to pull her close again. Raph had claimed that she was Wesley’s mate. In their conversation in the truck, Wesley had confessed that a dragon’s mate was their only chance for happiness. She wasn’t sure if that went both ways.
“I hate to intrude, but I have to go help my husband,” the professor said. “He’s a good leader, but without a pretty face next to him he can look a bit menacing.”
“We’re going home,” Wesley growled.
Dakota looked to the man that was supposed to be her mate. His body was tense as it wrapped around her, protecting her from anything that might step near them. His hands were tense and his gold colored dragon eyes darted around the alley. He wouldn’t be normal again until he knew that she was safe.
“Take her away from here. No one needs to be a part of this shit show.” The professor turned to Dakota. “You might have to make a statement later, but don’t worry about your classes. You will be re-enrolled next semester as you’re going to have a lot on your plate for the next month or so.”
Dakota pulled away from Wesley for a moment. She could feel his reluctance to let her go, but he didn’t fight her. “I don’t mean to be rude, Ma’am, but I’m going to be sent home. There’s no way I’m going to be able to stay after this.”
The woman’s eyes reflected defiance and a smile turned up the corners of her lips. “I’m the head of Dragon Human relations in Wales. It would be a slight if the school refused to allow a dragon’s mate to finish her schooling. If they see it otherwise, consider yourself my new assistant until I can make them see it my way.”
“We have to go.” Wes’s rumble of a voice was strained. He stepped back and she watched the most amazing thing she’d ever laid eyes on. His human form disappeared while scales snapped into existence. They flowed like water, smaller scales flowing to form a tail and limbs. Finally, the dragon she’d first met in the field outside Snowdonia stood before her. He lowered his head to the ground, steam rising from his nostrils. When he opened his taloned hand, Dakota stepped inside it. The talons closed around her, and for some silly reason all she could think about were amusement park rides.
The wind rushed around her, his wings flapping over her head. Her hair whipped in every direction when they picked up off the ground. Her shoulder ached, but she was safe.
***
Wesley touched ground outside his tower. The impact from the landing jolted Dakota awake. She groggily fumbled on her feet while he pulled the beast back. The beast only gave way to Wesley because it knew that the best way to touch their mate was with human hands. And, the beast wanted nothing more than to carry their mate upstairs to bury their manhood deep inside of her. She was theirs, this tiny warrior that drew pictures of dragons and shot their enemies in the head.
His beast huffed a laugh at what she’d done to protect them. The beast was proud of her, even if it raged at what she’d had to endure. They had kidnapped her, shot her, and who knew what else. It was no wonder that the woman had fallen asleep in his talons while they flew home.
Instead of heading inside, Dakota turned where she stood. She looked up at his human face, trying very hard not to notice that he was naked before her. There was something happening behind her eyes. He craved to know what she was thinking, to crawl inside her head and tell her that he needed her to stay. Yet, he couldn’t hold her back from what she wanted, either. So, he stood where he was in silence.
“Did you know?” she asked, finally.
Wes pressed his eyes closed and nodded. She was surely going to yell at him. It was his fault that she’d been in trouble. If only he’d been smart enough to stay home the night they’d met. None of that mattered to the beast inside of him. The beast wanted to take their mate then and there, without delay. It wanted to know that she was truly safe, that she was theirs.
It shoved him toward her, moving his hands without his permission. His fingers grabbed her hips and pulled her into his body. He was sure she could feel how hard he’d become. He could feel her nipples pressed against his chest. They hardened against his skin.
With his eyes closed and his teeth clenched, he spoke. “Did they hurt you? What did the Guardians try to do to you?”
“Stop.” Her voice rose as she shoved him away from her. “You knew that I was your mate and you didn’t try to tell me? You didn’t think that was a bit of information that I needed to know?”
Wes’s arms trembled as he let them fall to his sides. The world felt heavy on his shoulders as he took in her accusation. Her words rang with truth, he couldn’t deny that. But, inside of him his beast rebelled. It wanted to sweep Dakota off her feet and carry her into the tower where they would both know she would forever be safe. GOE would never get their hands on Dakota if she were locked away, the beast reasoned.
“Hear me out,” Wes said. “I didn’t want to force something upon you that would not have made you happy. Of course, I had hopes that I could have weaseled my way into your life and earned your love before you left for home, but I didn’t want to hand you a decree that you would have felt obligated to fulfill. I did it for your happiness.”
“I was kidnapped because you didn’t tell me the truth!”
Dakota turned to leave and his beast pushed him forward again. He was in front of her before e
ither of them registered that he moved at all. Wes looked down at her, knowing full well that the breadth of his pain was clear in his eyes. But, so was his beast. It was the beast that urged him to reach up and whisk away their mate.
Lock her up. Keep her safe. She’ll never be out of our sight again. We’ll never lose her again.
Wes knew better. He knew that there was the soul of an adventurer under the level-headed veneer that Dakota wore. It was what made her search for stories and art. It was what gave her the courage to fire a stun gun at the white dragon that sank his teeth into Wes’s neck.
Do it. The beast’s growl rumbled through his skull.
Wes shook his head. Dakota looked at him with her head cocked, confused. Concern flashed across her face, an emotion that Wesley hadn’t expected. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
There was little time to explain. As much as he needed her safe in the moment, he knew better. He slowly shook his head. “The beast and I are not in agreement right now, Dakota. It is pushing me to do something that I very much do not want to do to you. I can keep it down for only so long before it makes me grab you and hide you away in the tower where no one can ever hurt you, where you would be nothing more than a prisoner. Take the moment to run. Go to my truck and leave. The keys are behind the visor.”
After a moment of hesitation where she studied his face for the truth, Dakota took the chance he offered. She turned and sprinted. He tried to hide his beast’s growl of disapproval as his limbs shook. Inside of him, his beast thrashed like it never had before. It made his head ache. It grew into a skull splitting pressure behind his eyes.
But, he would never do anything that Dakota did not want. She didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. Especially not from him.
Distantly, he heard the patter of footfalls running away and the roar of his truck coming to life. He didn’t know where she would go, only that he would not hurt her. The Guardians that hurt her were being dealt with.
She is safe, he reminded his beast. There is time yet to win her love the right way.
Love? The beast’s confusion rang through his growing migraine.
Wesley sighed and let himself fall to the ground, his limbs tired from fighting. His body ached from his fight with the white dragon. He expected GOE and their weapons, but he had not expected another dragon to be fighting on their side. The Guardians had made their existence off slaying dragons. It made no sense that one of them would be fighting on the enemy’s side.
Now that Dakota was safe elsewhere, his thoughts could wrap around the events of the day a bit easier. GOE was trying to start a war with the Welsh clan, but what was the white dragon’s role in that war? Wesley pushed himself up from the ground and set off to find his phone. He had to tell someone. It helped that it took his mind off his mate that had just run away from him.
Chapter Seventeen
Dakota hadn’t called Wesley since she’d left. He knew, through his mother, that his mate had decided to stay and work as her assistant until she could re-enroll in her classes. He also knew that his mate had been thoroughly questioned by the Guardians and he had been unable to be with her when they did. He’d been so angry that he went out and nearly blew his small forge to smithereens with his breath. His mate had been with the guardians, the people that tried to kill her, and no one told him.
He was still fuming as he pulled the pieces of iron he’d been working on a week ago from the back of his workshop. He hadn’t known why he felt the need to start making a bed the day he met Dakota, but it seemed that deep down he’d known that the woman in the field was his mate. The beast wanted a proper bed to take his mate, whispering to him that she would return and guiding his hands to finish the project.
Wesley knew better. He knew that Dakota would not return to them. She’d been kidnapped and shot, even if it was not a real bullet it was a device meant to stun his kind. It was no surprise that she’d chosen a normal, human life. He just had to come to terms with it.
The metal in his hands groaned. He looked down to find that his knuckles were white around the metal. Could he come to terms with her decision? Or, would he hunt down every little piece of art she might want to lure her back to him?
He shook his head. It was a mess of worry and blame. Instead of dwelling on it, he let his beast push forward. Not enough to alter his shape, but enough to quiet the human thoughts in his mind. His beast knew that she’d return. In time. All she needed was time. Which was surprisingly patient of his impulsive beast. It was satisfied with the act of finishing the bedframe.
The sun was dipping toward the horizon when Wesley regained full control. He stepped back to admire the work that he and his dragon had completed. The mattress that only faintly smelled of his mate was nestled in its new frame, bare only because the beast had no patience for things like pillowcases and fitted sheets.
He was ready to fall upon it and breathe in the last of her scent before falling asleep when he heard a car door shut outside. A glance out the high window told him that it was only his mother’s car. He was half tempted to ignore her presence and get some sleep, but honor bound him to go down and see what the meddling Halfling wanted of him.
On the first floor of his tower, a scent caught his nose. He told himself that he was wrong. He must have carried Dakota’s scent with him from handling the mattress upstairs. He was looking for something that clearly wasn’t there. Hopeful wasn’t the right word.
With a heavy sigh, he opened the door, ready to ask his mother as politely as he could manage to come back tomorrow. Only, it wasn’t his mother on the other side of the door.
“Hey there, Dragon Man.” Dakota stood on his doorstep, long hair free around her shoulders and hands nervously toying with each other. “I’m back.”
It took Wesley a very long moment to find words, any words at all. Instead of fighting to speak, he swept her up into his arms and spun her around the living area. Burying his face in the crook of her neck, he breathed her scent in deep. She laughed, a sound that lifted weight from his soul.
“You’re going to have to put me down,” Dakota advised him. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but he did as she asked, afraid to lose her again. It still blew his mind that she was here. She was back home.
***
Dakota had been nervous driving back to the tower. Professor Taniff let Dakota borrow her car, claiming that she wasn’t going anywhere in the morning and that the GPS knew exactly where Wesley’s tower was in the thick wilderness of Snowdonia.
She made the decision only that morning. When she woke, and rolled over to reach for a body that wasn’t there for the third time that week, she realized that she was running away from something that could be really good for her. It wasn’t the Guardians that made her want to turn tail and run. That was a frightening experience, but she had lived through it.
What really scared her was the idea of being trapped on Snowdonia, unable to live her own life while she served as a dragon mate. She spent too many years carefully curating her life toward a future that she saw very clearly. Finding out that she was Wesley’s mate seemed to throw a wrench in everything she knew, ripping away all the work she’d done if she followed through with it.
Working with Professor Taniff, Maggie as she insisted being called, was an eye opener. The woman not only was the head of the history department and a very active representative in Dragon Human Relations, but the small woman had stood her ground between Dakota and the Guardians that had come to question her. They wanted to pin the trouble on Dakota and her mate until Dakota showed them the gunshot wound in her shoulder, which had healed miraculously fast.
Maggie Taniff was a force to be reckoned with, uncontrollable really. And, as Dakota understood, she was the mate of the head of the Welsh dragons. It put a lot of things into perspective for Dakota. First of which was that she could at least give Wesley a chance.
It brought her to where she was, standing awkwardly on the dragon shifter’s doorstep. All awkwardness aside,
he’d swept her into his arms and danced around the living room with her. She felt laughter bubble up through her.
He set her down as she asked and pulled back, waiting for something to happen. From the look in his eyes, he was terrified she would leave again.
“I’m not here to stay,” she confessed. His shoulders fell and he struggled to keep his face under control. She didn’t bother fighting the urge to step closer to him. Her hand was pulled like a magnet to his skin. She rubbed the stubble that grew over his chin. He stilled beneath her touch, like a man afraid to scare a rabbit. Her thumb ran over his lower lip. “I’m here to give this… us a chance. I want to get to know you while I finish my semester here. Given that I have to wait to re-enroll, we have even more time.”
His hand rose to cover hers. “I would very much like that.”
She gave in and leaned forward. Her lips pressed against his. He groaned into her mouth as she pulled his lip between her teeth. This was something that she could get used to.
After a long moment, Wesley pulled away from their kiss. She watched him struggle for control, the gold swirling through his eyes. He gave her a weak smile. “As much as I’d love to take you right here and now, there’s something I want to show you.”
He took her by the hand and led her up the winding stairs to the topmost room. It was the same room that they’d made love in the first time a week ago. Yet, it had changed. She stopped at the top of the stairs, staring at the bed that took up most of the room.
Thin, black trees reached toward the high ceiling at each corner of the bed. Limbs reached out, holding twisting vines, tiny leaves, or little iron birds. It was a piece of art all on its own. Dakota looked to the man standing beside her, noting how he looked between her and the bed with worry. He wanted her to like it. He’d crafted the bed for her, she realized.
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