by Bryce Evans
Nolan fluffed the pillow one last time.
“What are you doing?” Fisher Reed asked, smiling as he leaned against the doorway.
“Nothing. Are the other rooms ready?” Nolan just got caught fluffing pillows. Fisher would never let him live this down.
“Yes, they’re all ready, but why are you so nervous about them coming? What’s so special about this one for you to fluff her pillows? Can you come fluff mine for me, too?” Fisher teased. He was already out the door before Nolan could catch him.
Nolan called after him, “Go check the property lines!”
Nolan sighed when he heard Fisher yell back, “I will if you fluff my pillows for me!”
Shaking his head he had to smile as he walked over to the kitchen and checked the pot of stew he had cooking. He figured that dragon shifters were probably just like the rest of them and liked meat, so he made a big batch for them when they arrived. He made sure he had enough potatoes, carrots, and other things in it as well, because he didn’t know what kind of foods they would eat.
It didn’t really matter in the long run, because his kitchen was equipped with every modern appliance known to man. He was sure he could whip something up they’d like. He loved his kitchen; most of his meetings with his friends were held here. Before he redesigned his house, he found a table that held twenty people and that became the focal point of the room. If they didn’t have enough room at the dining room table, then they could sit at the long bar counter. He wanted everyone to feel part of the family and sitting around enjoying a meal together was what it was all about.
But why did he specifically care what Skylar thought? Why was that so important to him? He was acting stupid, worrying about how she would like his home, and that needed to stop before he made an even bigger fool of himself. She meant nothing to him. He was just trying to be polite, and they needed her people’s help. That was the only reason he was going out of his way.
It didn’t matter that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. It didn’t matter that his dick was still at attention, pressing against the zipper of his blue jeans, just from thinking of her. Fuck, it didn’t matter that all he wanted to do was mount her and fuck her until they both couldn’t move. But it did matter to him for some reason, and that was what confused him the most. Maybe it was all the nightmares he was having about dying. Whatever it was, he needed to get control of it.
A bell dinged, jarring him out of his thoughts. Someone had crossed over the property lines. Nolan made his way to the front door and opened it, to find Fisher standing on the porch, waiting. Three SUVs pulled up, one behind the other, all decked out. Even he could see that the vehicles had bulletproof glass and armor-plating. The vehicles were impenetrable by bullets and bombs, which would help if they were ever in it trying to get away, but these were dragon shifters. Their hides were already practically impenetrable. The Alphas had no idea what their weaknesses were, but he was hoping that with them living here he would find out something to help them in the fight against Jamal.
A man got out of the vehicle first and searched the area, looking around and scanning the lush trees and mountains that stood behind Nolan’s home. Apparently he thought something was going to jump out at him. If he was worth his salt as a protector, he would know that Nolan had guards watching him from every angle.
“He must be her guard,” Fisher muttered.
They continued to watch as the guard opened the door and held his hand out to someone. Judging from what he had seen of Skylar last time, he wasn’t expecting her to look like this. She had on a beautiful black dress that wrapped around her delicious body. Fisher whistled low; they were the only ones to hear it, but Nolan didn’t like it, and he sure as hell didn’t like the guard who still held her hand.
The bottom of her dress blew with the evening breeze. Her black hair was tied into a knot at the back of her head. All he wanted to do was pull it and watch it flutter down around her face. She had such beautiful hair, and deep amber eyes. They seemed to automatically focus on him, and his on her, as the guard helped her walk to the porch steps.
He swallowed hard, just fantasizing about her. He had to stop before everyone could scent his arousal. What ticked him off the most was the guard, who seemed to focus solely on him. This guy obviously had a problem, and if he didn’t stop eyeing Nolan, he was going to have much more than that.
“Hello.”
He stared at Skylar for a few moments before he realized she had spoken. He could tell she was nervous, and for some reason he was, too. He wanted her to like it here.
“Welcome,” Nolan said with a smile, trying to make her feel comfortable around him. “I have your rooms set up. Let me show you to them, and we can help you with your luggage.” He could see others getting out of the vehicles; one female was pregnant. Nolan stopped and stared at the woman, who was holding her stomach. “She’s having a baby?”
“Is something wrong with that?” Skylar asked. She looked back at the woman, and the man who was helping her to the porch.
“It’s always a blessing to have a cub on the way and in the home. I’m sure she will want to rest. I have food cooked as well,” Nolan answered.
Nolan held the door open for their guests to walk inside. He noticed an older man checking the area as well. When his gaze landed on Nolan, he knew something was different with this one. His eyes were shrewd as they focused on him and everything around him. Nolan didn’t know if that was good or bad. They were only guessing about the dragon shifters being their friends. What if this was a trap from Jamal? If so, he’d just let the enemy into his home.
“Nolan, I want you to meet Xavier and Thea.” Nolan smiled, and shook Xavier’s hand first. “Congratulations on the cub—” Nolan stopped talking. “I don’t know what dragon shifters call their babies.”
“We call him Sin, which is short for Sinclair,” Thea said with a laugh. “But baby dragons are called drakes, hatchlings, or even fledglings. There are so few of us now that we just call him Baby Sin.”
“Then we shall call him Sin, too, if that’s okay,” Nolan asked.
“Yes, we would like that.” Thea glanced over at Skylar, who was smiling.
“A pregnant mother in your home is always good luck,” Fisher added.
“Good. I hope to have him soon, so let’s keep hoping for that good luck,” Thea said with a sparkle in her eye.
Nolan and Fisher both smiled.
“Nolan, this is Cry. He’s our Elder,” Skylar announced.
The man in question might have been older, but he wasn’t shaped like any Elder Nolan ever seen. This man had a swimmer’s body: tall and lean, but muscled. But that wasn’t what Nolan saw. What he saw was a killer. In fact, Cry reminded him of MJ — someone you would never want to go up against in a dark alley. It didn’t matter, really. He didn’t want to go against either of them even in the light of day. You never knew what you would get.
Nolan shook the Elder’s hand and could feel the power in his handshake, just as he expected. Cry was checking him out as well.
“And this is Dag,” Skylar added.
Nolan stuck his hand out, but the man hesitated for a few moments then shook it. Man, was everyone looking him over? He was giving them a place to live instead of a damn mountain cave. You would think they’d have a little gratitude.
“This is my Beta, Fisher Reed,” Nolan said. Skylar and the others nodded and shook his hand.
“Here, let me show you to your rooms.” Nolan led them up the staircase. The first room was decorated in gray and blue, so the Elder choose it. Nolan continued on to the next one. It had a king-size bed in it, and a bathroom.
“You two take that one, Thea. You go to the bathroom a lot,” Skylar said with a small laugh.
“You don’t have to beg me.” Thea walked inside with her mate. The next room was across the hall, and it had gray walls.
“Dag, you can have this one.” Skylar didn’t give him a chance to object before she walked off. He coul
d tell that Dag didn’t like it, but she was his Alpha. He wanted to laugh but they had just met, and things were still tense. Joking wasn’t appropriate right now. No matter how much he wanted to.
The next room was the one that he had made up for Skylar. He hoped she liked it. The walls were a light gray color, and the furniture was all black, much like his. There were several times he had fallen asleep on the bed when he got drunk and wandered into the wrong room. He felt like he was trying too hard when she walked over and inhaled the flowers he had cut earlier that morning. He couldn’t stop watching her as she walked around the room. “It’s beautiful.”
“Yeah, Nolan was fluffing the pillows for hours for you,” Fisher said with a smirk. Both Skylar and Nolan turned around and just stared at him. When Fisher’s teasing didn’t succeed, he shrugged his shoulders and walked out.
“Thank you for helping us and putting us up. I want Thea to be comfortable, and this is better than I imagined,” Skylar said gratefully.
“You’re welcome. My room is next door if you ever need me. I’ll go outside and help you get your bags in, and then we can eat.” Nolan started to walk out and stopped. “You do eat meat, right?”
“Yes, we eat lots of meat.” Skylar gave him a reassuring smile.
“Good, I didn’t know. We eat a lot of meat here, but if you didn’t then I would order something different for you. I made beef stew for dinner. I hope you’re hungry.” Nolan nodded and walked out. Being in her bedroom too long gave him the wrong ideas. He needed to leave before he did something he couldn’t take back. Plus, he was jabbering away like a fool. He only hoped that he didn’t stand around and help her unpack.
Dag was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, taking in their conversation. The little shit was about to get on his last nerve. “You need something Hoss?”
He waited until the man spoke. “The princess is my main concern. If she is unhappy, then I’m unhappy, and nobody wants me unhappy. I take my job and her very seriously.”
Nolan wanted to smash Dag’s face in, but he couldn’t. He had to give it to the man for being so ballsy. “What else do you do for the princess?” He let the remark hang in the air, wanting to rattle him. He was actually pretty big—around six-foot-three, and maybe two hundred and forty pounds—but Nolan knew he could take him.
Before Dag could answer, Skylar walked out of her bedroom. “We need to get the luggage in, Dag. Can you help Xavier with all of Thea’s stuff?” It wasn’t a request; she was telling her guard to cut the shit. Dag just bowed to her, sneering at Nolan before he walked down the stairs.
“I’m sorry for the way he’s acting. He takes his job very seriously, and—”
“Don’t make excuses for him. He has nothing to fear from me. I have no intention to harm you.”
“He doesn’t trust very easily. We had a lot of people whom we trusted and had betray us. He’s just…”
“You don’t have to explain, Skylar. I’m a big boy and I’m not intimidated by your guard. I’ll let him pass on this one, but the next time expect me to say what I think, and teach him some respect.” Nolan turned around and left her standing there with her mouth open, shocked. He was an Alpha male, and he could tolerate a lot of shit, but disrespect was not something he’d stand for.
Chapter Four
After they haled Thea’s baby stuff up the stairs and set it up, Skylar was hungry and tired. It was already dark outside, and she was still tired from fighting Jamal. She had changed into blue jeans and a long-sleeve shirt so she could be comfortable. Why she’d dressed up initially was beyond her. She’d wanted to impress Nolan, but he’d practically told her that he wasn’t interested.
When the first bite of the stew hit her mouth she was happily amazed. It tasted wonderful, with a combination of spices she couldn’t quite put her finger on. “This is delicious, Nolan! There’s something in it that tastes familiar, but I can’t figure out what it is.”
“Old family secret. I’d have to kill you if I told you.” Nolan couldn’t believe he just said that. Dag was the first to look up and put his spoon down.
“What I mean is that it’s a family secret, and...”
They all turned when Thea and Xavier started laughing. “Whatever’s in it, it’s fantastic. Can I have another bowl?” Xavier broke the tension in the room. Nolan figured that Thea and Xavier were the peacekeepers of the group, and he already liked them.
“Of course, you can have as much of it as you want.” Nolan said, picking up Xavier’s bowl and filling it with more stew. “We’ll have plenty left over if you get hungry in the middle of the night, Thea. I have several women in my pride who are pregnant. They eat all the time, or at least that’s what their mates say. They get up all during the night with weird requests. The kitchen is stocked, so get whatever you need and let me know if you crave something else.”
“By the time Sin gets here I’m going to be big as a house. I seem to be hungry all the time. I appreciate your offer. Thank you.”
“But you’re still beautiful,” Xavier said, rubbing his wife’s belly.
Nolan couldn’t help but to look over at Skylar, envisioning her one day heavy with his child. Tiger shifter cubs were big, and made the mothers bigger. They had to eat a lot to keep the cub nourished. What are you thinking, you idiot?
Nolan looked away and started eating again. The table was quiet as everyone enjoyed the meal. Nolan hated not knowing what to say; it was a strange feeling for him. He always knew what to say and how to keep the conversation going. Think of something, he told himself. He cleared his throat. “Tomorrow we have a meeting with the Alphas. If you’d like, I can ask for the meeting to be here so Thea could hear it and not have to leave.”
Thea and Xavier both smiled at his suggestion. “That would be very kind of you, Nolan,” Skylar answered.
“After dinner I’ll give them a call then. We have a midwife on my staff if you want her to check you out, Thea. Just as a way to make sure everything’s running smoothly.” Wow, he could hardly believe how accommodating he was being. But he couldn’t stand the thought of Thea having to leave the house. She looked very tired already. Dark circles shadowed her eyes. Even though she wasn’t part of his pride, she was a pregnant female and they always protected females.
Thea looked at Skylar first before she answered. When her princess nodded, Thea smiled. “That would be very kind of you, Alpha.”
Nolan nodded. He could tell Skylar was watching him, so he went back to eating, hoping that he wouldn’t open his mouth again. Even Fisher was staring at him.
First of all, they didn’t even know if they could completely trust the dragons, even though something inside him whispered that they could. It was one of those feelings he got, and he always trusted those feelings. His instincts had always rung true for him. Now he needed Skylar to believe that, and trust the Alphas enough to tell them her people’s darkest secrets. Only that would help them defeat her brother, and kill him. That was something he would never back down on. Killing Jamal was something that had to be done, matter how hot Nolan thought his sister was.
Nolan worked in his office until he didn’t hear any movement upstairs. Fisher was still up, making sure that their land was safe; Nolan glimpsed him several times when he looked up at the security cameras.
Sitting back in his chair, he noticed one of the cameras seemed fuzzy, like it was about to go out. MJ had already warned them that this would happen, and that they would need to replace them soon because it would be cheaper to just change them out then to have them sent off to be fixed. The woman was always prepared. She had boxes of new cameras in her office in case this happened.
Nolan picked up the phone and called MJ.
“Hello.”
“Hey MJ, I’m having a problem with one of the cameras and wondered if you could come out early in the morning and check it out before the meeting?” he asked.
“Of course. You need all of your cameras working properly, especially now. While I’m th
ere I’ll check the rest of your system. Nothing wrong with being prepared.” Nolan loved MJ. She was straight to the point, and there wasn’t any fluff in her conversation.
“Great. I can come by and pick you up in the morning. I have some errands in town.”
“I’ll see you then.” Nolan laughed when MJ hung up without another word. She didn’t like waiting for you to say goodbye. She’d said everything she needed to say, and if you wanted to ask her something else then you’d have to call her back. MJ wasn’t the type of person who liked to just chat on the phone.
Fisher walked into his office as he hung up.
“Just the person I needed to see.”
“Needed but never wanted. Bet if I had long black hair and eyes the color of amber, you’d want me then,” Fisher teased.
This time he just stared at Fisher without smiling. It worked every time. The Alpha stare was the best thing his father ever taught him. He hardly ever used it, but Fisher was pushing his buttons, and Nolan needed him to stop before he strangled him.
“What do you need, Alpha?” Fisher asked, clearing his throat.
“In the morning, I’m going to get MJ. One of the cameras is messing up and we need all of them in tip-top shape. I’ll be gone for a while. Make sure that our guests are fed. I want a lot of food prepared, especially for Thea.” Nolan put his hand up, stopping Fisher’s objections. “Just do it, Fisher. Just do it. You’re going to cook anyway; you might as well cook enough for our guests. What’s up with you?”
“The guard is giving me those looks like we’re up to something, and it’s pissing me off. But I like Thea and Xavier.”
“You sound like a child. ‘He doesn’t like me,’” Nolan teased.
