Cole

by Emilia Hartley

  Fear shoved him forward. He raced into the cabin, scanning the interior for Jude or intruders. No one could have gotten past him. Not in the few moments since she’d left. Still, he feared the worst.

  His beast reared its head and roared, filling his ears with the rushing sound. The creature inside him was ready to rampage. Then he found her lying on the twin bed in the back bedroom. She was curled around some sort of stuffed object, her eyes distant.

  His heart settled, but his beast was not happy. It could sense Jude’s malcontent. Something was wrong. It was more than their conversation. When her eyes flicked to him, they flashed gold and a snarl curled over her lips. The color was there and then gone when she recognized him. Her lips formed a silent question.

  Cole jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “You left your door open.”

  “Oh. I guess I wasn’t paying attention.” She sat up, releasing the thing she’d been holding.

  It was a stuffed ice-cream cone with a happy little face sewn onto the cone. It was, perhaps, the most ridiculous thing he’d ever seen in his life. Just realizing what it was brought a laugh to his lips.

  “You’re a big bad gold dragon and you sleep with a stuffed animal?” Cole laughed incredulously.

  Jude pouted, a childish expression for a grown woman, and hugged the stuffed pillow tighter. “If you came in here to mock me, I can show you the door and help it smack your ass on the way out.”

  Cole huffed. “You couldn’t hurt me if you tried.”

  A growl rumbled out of her. She leaned forward, looking at him from beneath her burnished gold lashes. “Are you sure about that? You haven’t seen my beast yet.”

  The threat hung in the air. It was potent, laced with her beast’s potential. Jude could have been king of the Colorado mountains with that kind of presence. Yet, she was stranded on the shore of a lake with him and his messy family.

  He took her in, from her dark gold hair in a tangle over her shoulder, to her tattooed shoulders, to her slender legs bent beneath her. He wanted to crawl atop the bed with her and lay down. Maybe, if they both lay there, they could forget the worlds they lived in. But he knew that if he got too close to her, he wouldn’t be able to stop his beast from throwing himself at her.

  “Why didn’t you come back last night?”

  He sucked in a breath. Ah, yes. The mayonnaise. He should have dropped it off at some point, but Asher’s appearance had thrown him. What could he tell Jude that wouldn’t sound pathetic?

  His beast urged him to tell her the whole truth, but he reserved it for later. He had a feeling that if he told her, stubborn Jude would choose to stay. That was the last thing he wanted. Jude needed to be back in Colorado when the spell broke. At least, that way, he would know she was safe.

  “You can tell me that you hate me,” she went on. “I’m not going to fall apart if some guy I barely know doesn’t like me.”

  Cole snorted. “I found you pouting in bed. Stop trying to lie to me.”

  “Do you always assume everything is about you?”

  “When it’s you? Yeah.”

  She threw her stuffed ice-cream cone at him. He snatched it out of the air and laughed. The thing was surprisingly soft. No wonder she hugged it like it was her last lifeline. And, holy shit, it smelled of her. The scent that rolled off it gripped him tight and refused to let go. His beast wanted to roll in the smell.

  What was it about her that was so intoxicating? Cole’s beast was infatuated with this dragon woman. He wanted to think that it was because she was the first dragon shifter he’d come across in years, but it felt like more than that. This felt soul-binding.

  To be honest, Cole was afraid. So, he tossed the stuffed thing back at her and stayed on his side of the room. Just to be safe, he leaned against the wall across from her and stuffed his hands into his pockets. If he touched her, he would never be able to let her go.

  And she had to leave.

  That was the only way to keep her safe. If the spell broke and Alistair escaped, there was no telling what would happen. Cole was willing to sacrifice himself to keep his clanmates safe, but he refused to let anyone else die. Especially not this firecracker.

  Though her fire-cracking ways seemed dead in the water. He felt to blame for her sour mood.

  “I didn’t come back last night because Asher paid me a surprise visit. I haven’t seen him in ten years.”

  She grunted. “Are any more of your dead friends going to pay a visit?”

  Cole stiffened. He’d forgotten that he’d told her they were dead. There was no denying the lie now that Asher had returned. And if he told her Asher was the only survivor and another old clanmate showed up, then she would never trust him again.

  What could he tell her that would still keep her safe? She was messing around in a history better left dead. That was what he thought, but the history was still coming back. His old friends were returning.

  Cole didn’t know what was going on, and he had no excuse for his lie. “With how long it’s been since they contacted me, I just assumed. My clanmates and I aren’t close anymore.”

  While it was true, anyone could see that Asher had very much been alive. All one needed to do was pass by a sports bar on a fight night to see his bloodied face. She would catch his lie. She would call him on his shit, and he would have nothing to say.

  But she didn’t say anything.

  Her gaze was on the floor, almost dead, but Cole noticed the way she gripped the sheets beneath her. The blood rushed from her knuckles and turned them white. He pushed off the wall and dropped to his knees in front of the bed, right in her field of view.

  “Jude...Jude?” He touched her shoulder.

  She grimaced, eyes pressing shut.

  Her beast was digging deep. It was like she could feel the lines of power that ran through the earth. Ley lines were what her ancestors had called them. It was another sense, suddenly awake. Her beast wanted to find them, bathe in the power.

  Jude just wanted to be able to breathe. Her beast’s presence was so oppressive that she could do nothing other than hold onto the bed. The creature raked its claws against Jude like a dog digging the earth. It couldn’t get out, not with Jude holding so tight to the reigns. She was inside. Destroying the cabin by shifting inside would negate her lease.

  But then Cole touched her shoulder and it was like she could breathe again. The beast stopped its relentless digging and turned its attention to Cole. Meanwhile, Jude gulped down mouthfuls of air. Cole watched her with confusion. He tried to pull away, but Jude held his hand to her bare skin, afraid that if he moved, her beast would go right back to what it’d been doing.

  Cole’s brow furrowed. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

  She managed a tight-lipped smile, but it didn’t fool him. So, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she pulled him onto the bed with her. Cole looked wary at first, but she watched his face as he gave in to her tugging. The look was abandon and it tightened her core.

  He sprawled out before her so she could wrap herself around his back. His warmth eased the tensions that twisted her body. She was grateful, in that moment, to be a woman. That way Cole couldn’t feel how turned on she was as she spooned him. The thought brought a bitter laugh to her lips.

  Maybe, if she’d been a man, then she would be king of the Colorado mountains. Not Jasper. That wasn’t how life had played out, and she was starting to think that those mountains had never welcomed her, anyway. By strange coincidence, she’d found where she belonged all along.

  And now she feared that she would never be welcome.

  This was land that belonged to the previous clan. To Cole and Asher and whatever secrets they hid. She was outside it all. She was an intruder. Nothing she did would make her a part of their story. If she stayed, like her beast wanted, it would burrow. She knew it without a doubt.

  “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s happening,” Cole croaked out. He gripped the hand over his stomach.

  Jude di
dn’t respond. She just buried her face between his shoulder blades. If he kept his secrets, so would she. He didn’t need to carry the burden of her troubled beast. Not on top of whatever it was that made him miserable.

  “I think I’m going to accept that drink Asher offered,” she mumbled into his shirt.

  The responding growl vibrated his chest. She could feel it through her cheek, just like she thought. It had been a ploy, but it worked. Cole wanted her. He might not act on his desires, but at least she knew that he did want her now.

  “You’re welcome to have a drink with him, but I’ll warn you now that he hasn’t changed in all the years I’ve known him. If you give him any piece of your heart, he will throw it in the trash.”

  “Damn, that’s a vicious thing to say about a friend.” Jude breathed in Cole’s scent, pretending that she was just inhaling.

  It calmed her. The beast inside her wanted to nuzzle him. Jude should have reminded her beast that they couldn’t have Cole any more than they could have the land, but she didn’t have the energy to argue with her dragon anymore.

  “When is the last time you shifted?” Cole asked.

  She sighed. Had it been a week ago? All she knew was that it’d been sometime before arriving in Michigan.

  “You should shift tonight,” Cole insisted. “I think it will help you. You’re too dominant to hide the dragon inside you all the time. She needs to be let out.”

  Jude couldn’t tell him that she was afraid to unleash her dragon. She wanted to ask him if he would fly with her, so she wouldn’t have to be alone, but Cole wouldn’t want to spend any more time with her than he was already spending. Cuddling like this was probably a favor in his eyes. He was probably counting down the seconds until she released him.

  So, she let go. She was terribly cold without him pressed against her front, but she did it anyway. Oh, she wanted more. She wanted Cole in ways that she knew she would never get. It hurt, like a knife in her chest. She didn’t understand why her beast begged for things it could never have.

  Was it all the time she spent away from her clan? Had that twisted her beast and ruined it forever? If only her parents had let her live among her own clan, maybe then Jude’s beast wouldn’t be such a greedy little shit.

  But there was no changing the past. She couldn’t go home and try to find her place in the mountain. She couldn’t make Cole want to stay with her. Yet, he lingered. He didn’t roll off the bed or make any move to get away from her.

  He was just being polite, she told herself.

  “I’m fine,” she told him.

  He was quiet. She buried her face in his back. The beast inside her rippled with power. It wanted to roar and hear Cole’s response. She tried to shove the creature back down, but it fought back. Soon, she wouldn’t be able to stop the beast from taking what it wanted.

  She would be alone with her beast. It wasn’t like she could pour her complaints onto Cole. He clearly had his own troubles, his own ghosts.

  “Well, if you won’t shift, then move over so I have more room.” He wiggled his ass to push her back.

  Jude didn’t let him see her tears of gratitude. She swallowed the sob that climbed up her throat. Pressing her cheek to Cole’s back, she hugged him tight. Her beast was content with the cuddling. It settled down like that was all it ever wanted.

  She hated her beast some days. With Cole’s warm body pressed against hers, she couldn’t quite hate her beast that night.

  8

  “There’s something still going on here,” Jude told Jasper. “Whatever went down that made the dragon shifters scatter is bringing them back. It’s like they’re waiting for the end of the world.”

  On the other end, Jasper was quiet. The king of the Colorado mountains was a thoughtful man. As long as his beast was tamed. Cora had done that for Jasper. Which made Jude wonder if anyone could help tame her beast.

  The thing was driving her wild. She still hadn’t shifted. Jude feared that the beast would completely take over if she shifted alone. The last thing she wanted was the creature burrowing before she could convince Cole to sleep with her.

  For some reason, Jude seemed hung up on the idea that sleeping with Cole would solve all her problems. If only he would touch her, then her beast would settle. Then the world would be right again.

  Sex didn’t solve any problems. It was a quick fix for an issue that would eventually take over again.

  “Stay there,” Jasper finally commanded. “Help them if they need it. In the meantime, I have a reservation for you at a hotel. Check in by eleven if you want it.”

  Jasper hung up on her. The hotel reservation was what she’d wanted from the beginning, but now that Jasper had offered it, she sneered at the idea. Her beast would no more give up this damned cabin than it would give up the idea of Cole, lying between her legs.

  Jude chucked her phone at the counter and pinched her nose.

  “Long day already?” Cole asked.

  She let out a startled yelp and spun to find him standing in her doorway. She really needed to start locking that door. Okay, she knew she never would. The door would always remain unlocked just in case Cole wanted to visit like he was now. She wished he would invade her bedroom again.

  “Yeah,” she confessed. “Looks like you’re stuck with me long term. Jasper told me to stay put.”

  Cole’s face fell. All mirth that had been there a moment ago was now gone. Her stomach flipped. She couldn’t understand what was so wrong with her presence. He seemed to seek her out sometimes, and other times Cole acted like she was the last thing he wanted to see. It was spinning her in circles.

  If only they could fuck and get these hormones out of their system. Maybe then, she would be able to think straight. Her beast laughed at the thought, like it knew something she didn’t. Jude waited for the creature to fess up, but it said nothing. She groaned.

  “Yes. I know my presence is so offensive to you.” She turned away from him, but his presence was burned onto her mind. She could feel his every move.

  Like the way he approached her. She waited for him to press himself against her back, to pin her against the counter, but it never came. Her desires flared hot and ready, only to be shut down. She was being foolish, wanting things that she couldn’t have.

  Cole was clearly not interested in her that way.

  “You aren’t offensive,” Cole countered. “Well, not in the way you think. You can be pretty offensive when you open your mouth, but you don’t bother me.”

  She chewed on her lower lip. His words rang with sincerity, like some wall he’d been keeping up was breaking and he could do nothing more than watch it fall. Jude turned to take him in, but realized he was far too close. Her breath caught, making her heart stutter.

  As if he realized what he’d done, Cole suddenly stepped back. The gesture was a punch to her gut. No one wanted to be around her. Not even other dragons. She had to turn her head so that Cole couldn’t see the pain that flashed across her eyes.

  She wished with a sudden pang that Jasper had called her back. Then there would be no time for her beast to attach itself to this land, a place where no one wanted her.

  This was her entire existence. She hid behind sarcasm, sass, and her beast’s prowess. Behind all that, she was just a lost soul. Jude yearned for her own family. Not kids or anything like that. She wasn’t sure she would be a good mom. Instead, she wanted people to love. She wanted people to protect.

  Cole and Asher weren’t that for her.

  “Maybe you should call your king back. Tell him that it’s not safe for you here.”

  Cole’s words dragged her back to the conversation. His presence was too much for her small kitchen. He was all she could smell. He was all she could think about. Even the idea of leaving him filled her with dread, as if she could still make him fall for her. It was her beast’s hopeful thought, not hers.

  Once again, all Cole had done was remind her that she wasn’t welcome.

  “Unless you’ve
forgotten, I’m a gold dragon. I don’t need protecting.”

  He pursed his lips and shook his head. The way his fingers nervously tapped at the nearby table gave away his fear. Cole was afraid of something. She followed his gaze out the window to the water. Two days ago, she would have thought him crazy. Logically, there was no reason for a dragon to be afraid of the water.

  But she knew. She’d heard the voice in it, the one that beckoned her to free it.

  “What’s happening here? Cole. If I can be of assistance, then let me help.”

  His jaw tightened. The way his brow flattened over his eyes sent a thrill through her core. His anger wasn’t directed at her.

  “I won’t let you be dragged into this.” His voice was a growl, commanding in the way that could ground dragons in flight.

  “I’m not being dragged.” She jutted out her chin. Obstinance had always been one of her best features, in her opinion. “I’m offering help. All you have to do is accept it.”

  “I already said no. What if you get hurt? What if our problem tries to kill you? Have you even thought about that?”

  She let out a bitter laugh. “You sound like you care for me. Be careful, Cole. I’ll start to think that you want me.”

  His growl rumbled through the room. Jude, looking to annoy him, reached for the tiny radio on the counter and slapped the on button. The local radio station blasted into the small space. She turned a triumphant grin on him. He couldn’t argue with her if they couldn’t talk.

  Cole’s eyes flashed with his beast’s heat. It ignited a blaze in her core. When he stepped toward her, she gripped the counter behind her if only to keep herself where she was. If she hadn’t anchored herself, she might have leapt on him.

  He reached, rough fingers grazing her jaw. Her breath left her in a soul-shaking shudder. A slow smile spread over his face, but the heat in his eyes remained. It burned through her. She wanted to breathe, wanted to taste him, wanted to give in to the fire trying to eat her alive.