Dragon His Heels: Bad Alpha Dads

by Tami Lund

  Not to mention, the only person Gabe had spent any significant time with lately was…her.

  Whoa.

  No. That couldn’t be. No.

  Talia leaped from her seat, ran to the door, burst through onto the porch. But Gabe wasn’t anywhere in sight. If he was in the sky, he was well above the clouds. For a moment, she contemplated shifting and going after him.

  They needed to talk.

  But not in dragon form. Even if they could communicate telepathically—something she didn’t want to think about because that was a fated mate trait—that wasn’t the best scenario. They needed to be face to face, in human form, with no distractions. This was a hell of a serious conversation and required their full attention.

  Fated mates? She and Gabe? Really? And hadn’t told her? But he’d obviously confessed something to Adelbern.

  But it wasn’t possible. The colony was cursed. And let’s not forget Gabe doesn’t want a mate.

  He just showed you his treasures, her dragon pointed out.

  Oh no.

  Wait—Condoms. All that not-quite-sex business. Was it really about condoms?

  She rushed from the kitchen, up the stairs, hung a left at the top. Bursting through the door to his bedroom, she headed straight for the bedside table, the most logical place for a stash of…

  Condoms. Not one but two boxes. And they were the same damn brand she’d bought yesterday.

  Allergy her ass.

  The entire thing was contrived to use her. To use her physically, without connecting with her the way that was natural for dragons.

  Because he was immune to the curse and he knew it.

  She dropped the box she was holding into the drawer and slammed it shut. What the hell was she going to do? Leave? Leave what, precisely? His employ? His bed? Both?

  But they still needed to deal with this fated mates business. Even though they hadn’t sealed it, they now both knew. What did that mean? Could she walk away?

  She knew precious little about the concept. The older dragons hated to even talk about it. And the younger dragons, like herself, never bothered paying attention to it since they had no idea what they were missing.

  But Gabe did. How was that possible? And why hadn’t he told her?

  She clenched her fists as she stared at the bed, still mussed from their not-quite-sex lovemaking session this morning. What a colossal mess.

  In reality, she couldn’t leave, and she damn well knew it. First, there was Ruby to think about. Second, she had a responsibility to this colony. She was the reeve’s PR manager, and even if that meant she worked for Gabe, it was still a commitment, and Talia did not shirk her duties. Never had, never would. How many times had she been called a Goody-Two-Shoes back in school?

  Shoot, Gabe called her that. And she’d always considered it a compliment.

  Now she wished her scruples were slightly lower, because how the hell was she supposed to deal with the man, knowing he had lied to her?

  Your morals aren’t that high, her dragon whispered in a sly tone.

  Damn it all, this never would have happened if she hadn’t shifted for Ruby’s enjoyment that day he’d taken off to fly alone. That was when it all started—when they’d both been in dragon form and had somehow communicated telepathically.

  She was such an idiot for not realizing. And he was an asshole for not telling her.

  The sound of the front door opening and closing drifted up to her.

  “Gabe, are you here?” Julian, the housekeeper, called out. He was a young dragon with more energy than anyone had a right to have. He was perfect for the job of cleaning the reeve’s mansion.

  Talia turned away from the bed that held memories she’d loved and now loathed, and headed out into the hall to greet Julian. When she reached the top of the stairs, she stopped and stared at the person with him in the foyer below.

  Jasmine.

  She wore a shapeless cotton gown at least three sizes too big, her green eyes huge in her gaunt, too-thin face. Her hair hung in unwashed clumps, and the track marks on her arms almost looked like tattoos. But other than that, the resemblance to Ruby was striking. Too much so.

  “Oh, Talia, hey,” Julian said, relief evident in his voice. “This lady said she was here to see you, actually.” His gaze darted from woman to woman, like he knew this wasn’t a positive, warm fuzzy meeting and he wasn’t at all sure what he was supposed to do.

  “Thanks, Julian. I’ve got this,” Talia said without tearing her gaze away from the emaciated woman standing in the doorway, scratching her arm and looking as uncomfortable as a person possibly could. “Um, how about you start up here?” she suggested to the housekeeper as she made her way down to deal with this latest issue.

  “You got it,” he said, and he rushed past her without a backward glance.

  “Come on,” Talia said flatly when she reached the foyer, waving at the hallway leading to the kitchen. Without bothering to make sure her guest followed, she headed in that direction. Jasmine, she noticed, hadn’t even brought a suitcase. Of course, she hadn’t checked into rehab with anything but the clothes on her back, so Talia supposed that shouldn’t be surprising.

  “Coffee?” Talia offered when they were in the kitchen. “Or maybe actual food?”

  “Food would be good,” Jasmine said, her voice tiny, weak.

  Talia had the urge to pour herself a drink, despite the early hour, but probably not a good idea in front of a drug addict. Instead, she gave Jasmine a glass of orange juice and then set to work making a sandwich. No, two. She didn’t look any better than when Talia found her, passed out on the floor of a drug house, actually.

  “They released you already?” she finally asked when she slid the plate of food in front of the other woman.

  Jasmine lifted one of the sandwiches and took a hefty bite, shaking her head. After swallowing, she replied, “I checked out on my own. Didn’t know I could, until one of the other patients told me.”

  “Why? And why are you here?”

  This time, Jasmine talked around a mouthful of food. “I don’t need that place. And you have my daughter.”

  Talia crossed her arms. “I’m not giving her back to you. You’re sick, Jasmine. You need help. You can’t have her until you’re well again.” If then. As quickly as Gabe bonded with the little girl, she doubted he would be willing to give her up again. Especially now that he’d decided she was his heir. Not to mention, if Jasmine thought she was taking that child back to the Rojo colony, there was no way in hell Talia—or Gabe—would let that happen.

  “Besides,” Talia added, “she’s happy here. She’s adjusted really well, given the short timeframe. The really short timeframe.”

  “I haven’t used since that day.”

  “That day was only a week ago.” Had it really been only a week? So much had happened, had changed.

  “It’s been more than a week,” Jasmine argued. “A week and a half, actually.”

  “Whatever,” Talia grumbled. “And by the way, you asked me to come. You told me to take Ruby.”

  Jasmine’s gaze dropped to her plate. She picked at the sandwich. Ham, cheddar, mustard, and mayo, with a single lettuce leaf. Exactly the way she used to like it. Before she left the colony and started on the downward spiral that led her to the rehab facility she’d just checked herself out of. “I was wrong. I-I never should have called you. We were fine.”

  Talia’s jaw dropped to her chest. She snapped it closed and said, “No, you weren’t. When I got there, you were comatose. There’s a very real possibility you might have died if I hadn’t found you. And then what the hell would have happened to Ruby? Huh?”

  Jasmine flinched like Talia had raised her hand to strike her. “Where is she anyway?”

  “At school. Like a normal dragon child.”

  Jasmine lifted her gaze to the back door, still open from when Gabe left. Oh shit, Gabe. Talia glanced at the sullen, gray sky. He could be back any minute.

  “What’s your pla
n anyway?” Talia asked, stuffing sandwich fixings back into the fridge. “Where are you staying?”

  “I don’t know.” Jasmine watched as Talia snatched her plate away before she’d finished the first sandwich. “I guess I’ll stay with Mom and Dad.”

  “Good, good. You should…you should head on over there. I’m sure they’d like to see you. It’s been years, after all. Why don’t you—?”

  “Hey,” Gabe said, striding through the back door. His hair was damp, his skin glistening with water droplets from flying through the condensation-filled clouds. He looked positively delectable, despite Talia’s anger over his lying about the condoms. About his immunity to the curse. About the fact that they—

  Were they really fated mates?

  His gaze fell onto Jasmine, then darted to Talia and back again, his brow dropping lower and lower over his eyes, which were growing darker and stormier by the second. Finally, he focused wholly on Talia, glaring as he said, “Who the hell is this?” No niceties, no politeness.

  He knows.

  Yeah, well, so did she. Talia cleared her throat. “We need to talk.”

  Jasmine leaped from her barstool. “I’m going to head out. I’ll talk to you later, Talia.” And then she bolted, rushing toward the front of the house. A moment later, the sound of the door opening and closing echoed throughout the quiet kitchen.

  “Who the fuck was that?” Gabe barked, stabbing his finger at the doorway through which the other woman had just disappeared.

  Lightning flashed, brightening the kitchen for a scant second.

  “Why don’t you explain the two boxes of condoms in your bedside table first?”

  Thunder boomed, shaking the entire house. Gabe’s eyes widened, but then he furrowed his brows again and stalked up to her, staring down at her, no doubt trying to assert his dominance. “Who. Was. That?”

  Talia crossed her arms under her breasts and glared right back at him. She’d never been intimidated by him, and her anger over his deception gave added fuel for her defiance. They both had some explaining to do, and she wasn’t about to let him get away without doing his fair share.

  “You tell me why you haven’t been honest with me first.”

  He shook his head, water droplets flying every which way. “How about you explain your dishonesty?”

  “Me?” Talia sputtered. “I didn’t lie about—”

  “Because Jasmine sure the hell looks like she could be your sister.”

  Chapter 12

  Her sister? The woman he screwed six years ago and created a child with was Talia’s sister?

  She confirmed it, but he didn’t need her to. Despite the woman’s emaciated appearance, the similarities were there. The eye—the color as well as the shape. The high cheekbones, the lips, the heart-shaped face.

  Hell, Ruby had a heart-shaped face too. It hadn’t occurred to him until now how similar his daughter looked to the woman she called Aunt Talia.

  “Does Ruby know?”

  Talia nodded. She looked utterly miserable, but he refused to feel anything resembling sympathy. His range of emotion at the moment wavered between wanting to hit something, wanting to fly away again, and wanting to grab Jasmine and drag her back here to get the real story. Because clearly Talia wasn’t very good at giving it to him.

  “I had to tell her. When I found them and Jasmine was unconscious, Ruby wouldn’t come with me until I told her who I was.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Gods above, they were sleeping together. Maybe not technically having sex, but hell, their relationship was more significant than this, wasn’t it? He’d shown her his fucking treasures, for the gods’ sakes. This seemed like something one would share with their lover—with a dragon who shared his hoard with her.

  “Uh-uh,” she said, shaking her head, her eyes darkening. “You don’t get to make accusations until you explain yourself. How long have you known you were immune to the curse?”

  “Immune? What are you talking about?”

  “You’ve been lying to me because you wanted to use me but not seal our fates as mates.” She paused and then said, “Are we really fated mates?”

  She sounded dubious. Good, because damn it, even if it was Talia, he didn’t want to go down that road. Not after what had happened to his parents. To him. Connecting, having a relationship, expecting it to last forever—all it did was set the couple up for heartache. Not to mention the offspring they created and then walked away from.

  “I wasn’t using you.” He clapped his hand onto the back of his neck. “I didn’t lie when I said I couldn’t stop thinking about you, didn’t want to sleep with anyone else.”

  “Because you’re immune to the curse.”

  “No. I don’t know. I don’t understand it either. I just know I want to be with you, but I’m not willing to take the chance that it’s real.”

  She stood there blinking, her mouth hanging open, her chest rising and falling rapidly while the rest of her body froze in a state of stasis.

  He slammed his fist onto the counter, causing the dishes in the sink to rattle. Another bolt of lightning lit up the room. He’d come back from his flight feeling a little better, maybe even willing to talk to Talia about this whole curse business, but now—now he didn’t know what the hell to do.

  Because damn it, this complicated things to the nth degree. He’d slept with her sister six years ago and created a child, and now he was, well, not-quite sleeping with Talia. It felt…dirty. Wrong. To top it off, he still didn’t remember sleeping with Jasmine, even after seeing her in person. Not that it meant anything. Hell, he could line up the last twenty women he’d slept with and he wouldn’t be able to tell you their names, nor would he probably recall exactly what he’d done with half of them. Any of them.

  Man, he was a piece of work, wasn’t he? Surprising Talia would even let him kiss her, frankly.

  Thunder shook the house again, dragging out for long seconds.

  That’s because she’s your mate. And she knows there’s more to you than even you know.

  His damn dragon, always sticking his snout where it didn’t belong.

  “Look,” Talia said, pulling herself out of her apparent shock over his admission, “I was worried you wouldn’t accept Ruby. I wanted you to take her in without any added influence. I wanted you to love her for her, not because of her connection to me.”

  Another flash of lightning, another boom of thunder. It felt like Gabe’s brain was rattling around inside his head.

  “I couldn’t leave her there. I had to save her. Bringing her to you was the only thing I could think to do.”

  Gods, he felt like a heel, which wasn’t fair. He hadn’t asked for this. Any of it. Not an unexpected child, not a woman who may or may not be his fated mate, not the fucking curse, none of it.

  “I can’t do this right now,” he said, and he stormed toward the back door. The wind whistled through the trees and there was a loud crack, like a branch had broken. Pushing against the screen, he stepped past it and let it slam shut, just as thunder exploded over his head. He jumped off the porch and the first fat drop hit his shoulder. Then another and another. It was coming down in sheets by the time he reached the lake, skirted around it, and headed toward the schoolhouse.

  The only thing he could think to do right now was to see his daughter. No on else in this scenario could be trusted. Only her.

  The walk to the schoolhouse was maybe a half mile, but he was soaked to the bones by the time he arrived. The temperature had cooled too. A reminder that summer was soon to end. Fall would be here before they knew it, then the cold, dark days of winter.

  He sure as hell felt cold and dark right now. Especially when he stepped into the schoolhouse and the entire class full of children turned and gaped at him.

  “Er, hello, Gabe,” Ilsa said from the front of the classroom. “Is everything okay?”

  He scraped dripping wet hair off his forehead. “Fine. I just…just wanted to check up on Ruby. See how everything�
��s going.” He scanned the room, spotted her right in the center, surrounded by a gaggle of other kids. All of whom were going to go home today and tell their parents about the crazy reeve who stopped by in the pouring rain for no good reason.

  And then Ruby smiled and waved, and he thought, I have a damn good reason.

  “Okay, well, would you like a towel?” Ilsa asked, looking around like she might have one lying on her desk. “Or perhaps some paper towels? Cody, go get some paper towels from the bathroom for your reeve, please.”

  One of the kids in the back of the room jumped out of his seat and darted to the nearest door, returning a moment later with a wad of paper towels in his hand. He rushed to Gabe, shoved the paper at him, and zipped back to his seat.

  “Thanks,” Gabe said, using the sandpaper-like material to wipe his face.

  “Well, um, would you like to have a seat?” Ilsa asked, still clearly shaken by his appearance. Probably wouldn’t have been all that unusual except for the fact it was raining buckets and he hadn’t arrived with an umbrella. Or perhaps a motor vehicle. Half mile or not, that was a long distance in this kind of weather.

  He pointed at her office, in the back of the room. “I’m just going to go over there.” And then he hurried around the group of kids, all seated at small tables, facing the teacher, who rapped a ruler on her desk to draw their attention.

  “Okay, now, children, where were we?”

  “Hey, look,” one of the kids said, pointing. “More people coming.”

  “For heaven’s sake,” Ilsa snapped, and then she gasped when she looked out the window.

  Gabe whipped his head around. A group of dragons was heading their way.

  Not Zilarra.

  Rojo.

  No one in his colony looked that menacing, and who the hell else would stride across his grounds like they owned the damn place? It was too much of a coincidence. Jasmine showing up, now this.

  Heading straight for the schoolhouse, by the way.

  “Fuck. Ilsa, we need to get these kids out of here. This isn’t a peaceful visit.”