by Anya Nowlan
The smell of gold grew thicker in the air and, soon, Ares was following his nose like a scent hound on a blood trail. The sickly sweet tang of the thing that dragons loved so dearly – gold – was maddening. Finally, he stopped in front of a sheet of rock that went up pretty much straight for as long as the eye could see. A wide smile curved on his lips. This was it, his hoard.
Ares put his palm against the rock and stilled for a moment, feeling the ancient lines of gold and wealth entwining in the rock, calling to him. There had never been many dragons in these areas, which would explain why this treasure had been left unearthed. There were ice dragons further to the north, but they tended to keep to their side of the border, and most other dragons preferred to be in warmer climates, further south.
Although dragons have eternal fires blazing in them, even they aren’t immune to the sniffles. Ever seen a dragon sneeze? Some of the worst brushfires in history have grown out of an unfortunate dragon’s cold. It isn’t something they advertise much, though.
He stood there for a good long while, his eyes closed, listening to the call of the gold. He kept getting interrupted by a much louder voice inside of him, though, demanding that he return to Shifter Grove and make sure Pearl was still there and that she hadn’t taken off in another one of her elaborate escapes from him.
As much as Ares hated to admit it, he was beginning to fear he had met his match. He wanted to be an ass and joke and flirt his way through everything with her – which is what he usually did – but it didn’t come naturally. With her, he kept finding himself willing to lay down the attitude and let her close. Hell, he wanted to talk to her as much as he wanted to fuck her, and that was just insane.
When Alexander and Apollo had announced that they’d found a mate, Ares had been sure that the entire Treasure Lane gang had entirely lost their minds. First Devon and then Cillian and his brothers, all settling down, having babies and embarking on their happily-ever-afters – insanity. And yet, here he was, not that much later, considering getting a house in Shifter Grove, breaking a mountain down into tiny bits to make his own hoard and… getting a mate. How the mighty had fallen. Or risen? It remained to be seen.
“Right. Back to business,” he said to himself finally, the sun already ticking lower on the horizon and casting gloomy shadows over the woods.
It was dark enough to hide in the folds of blackness, but Ares opted against it – if for no other reason than to avoid ruining his chances with Pearl in case his dragon decided to get a mind of its own and go park itself on her lawn. That would be a real sight for sore eyes – some old-fashioned dragon courtship. Burn her house down so she wouldn’t have anywhere to go.
Ares had heard that Devon had threatened his bride with that. He had to assume that Pearl would have none of it and would hand his wings back to him ground into powder if he tried to pull a stunt like that.
He couldn’t wait to really piss her off one day and then get the best angry sex ever. He knew she had it in her. A woman with an ass like that and a mouth that wouldn’t skip obscenities even when faced with the biggest and most dangerous shifter in the world had to be a real fireball in bed.
I wonder if I find out exactly what she’s like tomorrow night…
CHAPTER SIX
Pearl
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Pearl said blankly, staring at her reflection in Danni’s big mirror.
“Why? Did I do something wrong? You want a darker brow, maybe?” Danni asked, worriedly taking another look at Pearl’s make-up and hair.
Frankly, Pearl looked gorgeous. The last time she’d been so dolled up had been for senior prom and that had ended up with her having the single most disappointing sexual experience of her life.
Somehow, she got the feeling that Ares wouldn’t disappoint if things ever got that far. She couldn’t imagine that man being anything less than godlike in bed… Which just made everything worse in Pearl’s opinion. It wasn’t fair that a man that hot knew just how attractive he was and knew how to use it, too.
Pearl wasn’t the kind of woman to feel bad about her curves or wrack her brain over whether or not a man would find her attractive. She was sexy and she knew it. But Ares Goldplains was smoking hot. He had had hundreds of women screaming his name, and Pearl was pretty sure that didn’t only include the concerts he’d played with the Gold Dragons with his brothers. No, he was a heartbreaker and she knew it.
So why was she still doing this?
“No, Danni, nothing’s wrong. Everything’s just right, you’ve done an amazing job,” Pearl said, smiling.
And she wasn’t lying. She did look great. But that wasn’t the problem. Ares Goldplains was the problem. The fact that she was doing this was the problem. The fact that she wanted to do it so badly was the problem.
“It’s easy when I have such good material to work with,” Danni said with a wink, smoothing a strand of hair into place.
That just made Pearl shake her head again and feel a tad bit miserable. Here she was, putting all of this time and energy into getting pretty for a man who had so far been treating their whole exchange like some elaborate game – with moments of seriousness, yes, but mostly just a game. Was that what she wanted to be? A pastime for some billionaire playboy?
You promised him a date. And would it really be so bad to go out with a man again? Maybe have him open a door for you or something? Just take this for what it is – a night of fun. No strings attached, nothing serious. Just fun. You know you want to…
“I see why you’re so popular with the women in town. Everyone loves a good compliment,” Pearl said, standing up.
“I think it’s just Shifter Grove making its mark on me. I never felt this friendly when I was living in Ohio. It’s just so much easier to be nice here, you know?”
Danni accepted Pearl’s money and deposited it in the little box that served as her till. She was newly married to some of the most ridiculously wealthy werebears in the world and her salon still looked a bit like a craft project. Pearl liked that – Danni obviously wanted to do things her own way and that was just how Danni wanted it as well.
It was also probably the reason why she had got so upset at Ares when he unceremoniously landed in her space and took the reins of the whole operation. That was something she would have to talk to him about in the near future – he’d have to learn to mind his own damn business even if things did end up getting more serious than just drinks and dinner. Pearl wanted to sink or swim on her own!
Or, at least, that’s what she thought she wanted.
“You know, I still need to give that husband of yours an earful about Ares,” Pearl said, checking her reflection one last time.
It was almost time for Ares to come to the store and she’d have to get back before it was too late. But time breezed by when she was with Danni, so it was difficult to make herself go – especially when her date was both completely thrilling and entirely terrifying at the same time!
“You’re welcome to. I don’t think they get told off by savvy businesswomen enough, really. Someone needs to remind them that it doesn’t matter who their father played golf with, or whatever the shifter alternative of it is, but they can’t just make business decisions based on old friendships. I hope it didn’t cause you too much trouble!”
Danni looked apologetic and a little bit miffed on Pearl’s behalf, and Pearl couldn’t help but appreciate that. She wasn’t mad – Rhett couldn’t have known better – but Danni had been in a similar position with her business as Pearl was now and knowing that she wasn’t at least completely imagining the severity of the situation was somewhat of a relief.
“No more than I can handle, I think.”
“Rock his world, girl!” Danni called after Pearl as she stepped out into the cool evening air.
I intend to, Pearl told herself, grinning secretly.
As long as she would take this date for what it was – nothing serious and just fun – then nothing could go wrong, right?
&nbs
p; The streets were quiet as they usually were. The clicks of her heels echoed back at her and Pearl held her head high, even though a storm was brewing inside of her. It wasn’t a long walk back to the storefront, but she found herself taking her sweet time.
Somewhere in the distance, she could hear excited voices and children giggling. It made her smile. That was what she liked about Shifter Grove – the calm and the happiness that exuded out of every person, shifter and establishment there. They had all gathered for a reason – to build a better future for themselves while making sure their ambitions didn’t hurt anyone around them. There was something poetic about it and it was damn hard to get used to, coming from a big city environment.
It felt odd not expecting the other shoe to drop. There was no backtalk, scheming or plotting in Shifter Grove, and there was no one hoping she would fail. The only person she would have to compete with was herself. Even if another store popped up in town, Pearl knew as well as anyone that the better business would win. It was as easy as that.
But Pearl knew well enough that her biggest critic would always be herself. Why else had she waited so many years to make a step towards what she really wanted – running her own life? It was a healthy mixture of fear and perhaps an unwillingness to dare to succeed, to dare to be happy. It sounded ridiculous when she thought about it, but she knew it was there, somewhere at the back of her head, nagging at her.
It struck her out of the blue that she had never realized it herself. It had been Andrei, who had pointed out to her that she could be so much more than she was – that she could do better, reach further, fly higher. For a moment, Pearl wondered if there was a similar disconnect between what she wanted and what she thought she could have when it came to love.
Granted, she’d never had the best luck with men. They came and they went in her life, sometimes literally. It was the kind of lifestyle she invited – never making a real connection, just meeting someone for a night and discarding them like a bad dream the next morning. It had suited her for years, so why wasn’t it enough now?
Pearl gnawed at her lower lip, stopping herself only when she tasted a hint of the red lipstick Danni had put on her. Frowning, Pearl smushed her lips together a few times, trying to even out the possible kink in her make-up and sighed loudly to herself.
Why are you so damn nervous about this!? Just. One. Date. Calm the hell down!
She had a good idea as to why she was being so fidgety about the whole thing. Yes, Ares was hot as hell and she wanted to do every manner of unspeakable things to his body. And yes, he was also a cocky, self-assured man-beast who needed a good ass-kicking. That didn’t mean he had good intentions. What she was really afraid of was that she’d like him, in earnest. And what would she do then?
Everyone and everything good in her life had left, sooner or later. She’d been a foster kid, skipping from family to family through most of her younger years. Finally, in her early teens, she’d settled in a big house full of sullen, disappointed children like herself, and found an uneasy kind of stability. It wasn’t much better than running from place to place, but at least it meant her bed stayed the same.
Later in life, it had given her all the more drive to never end up like that again. She worked hard to be able to provide for herself. Pearl never had much, but she had enough to get by. And that was exactly what she’d been doing for a long time – getting by. When Andrei entered her life, she’d got another whiff of that security she’d never really had, knowing that there was someone out there who had her back and cared how her day went.
And then he died.
Pearl blinked back the tears she felt stinging her eyes. It hadn’t been long enough yet for her to be able to think about him without feeling the familiar burn of longing. They hadn’t known each other for long, but he had been like the father she never had – a quiet, protective, leading force in life who would keep her up even when her own knees wanted to collapse under her.
It had been damn hard to let someone close enough to her that losing them would hurt. It was so much harder now – wanting to do it but being unsure whether she could. There were far too many what-ifs to count. Pearl wasn’t usually an anxious person, but just going over the veritable plethora of things that could go wrong had the hairs on the back of her neck standing up and her stomach in knots.
Just one date.
It was becoming a mantra – a mantra she didn’t quite believe in.
When her storefront came into sight, Ares was already waiting for her and, for a moment, the anxiety lifted. A smile tugged at the corners of her lips and her hands relaxed. She hadn’t even noticed they’d balled into tight little fists, as if going out for a night warranted some kind of fight or flight reaction from her.
Dammit. He looked good.
Just one date. Fuck it. You’re doing this.
He grinned when he saw her and all the panic drifted away. The spark in his eyes told her she was going to be in for one interesting night. And now, she couldn’t wait.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Ares
“You dressed up for me! I’m touched,” Ares said, grinning.
He was this close to licking his lips, but decided against it. Even though the thought of getting another angry scowl from her would have made it almost worth it. He loved that annoyed little face she made when things weren’t going her way. He’d seen it in the bar the first night and he’d seen it at the store when he showed up out of the blue. Then again, to be frank, there weren’t many things about her that he didn’t find completely compelling.
“Can’t a woman just look good for herself?” Pearl queried with an arched brow.
“Not when she’s going out with me, no,” Ares said, pushing himself off the side of the truck and taking a few steps towards her.
He had her in his arms before she could protest, which he was sure she was going to do. He pulled her into a tight embrace, enveloping her curvy frame in his arms and inhaling her sweet scent. Like gingerbread and cocoa butter – delicious. Ares fought the urge to let his hands wander over her, settling for just keeping her against him for a few moments.
To his surprise, she didn’t fight it. Far from it, her hands actually met behind his back and she was perfectly content in his arms. He could get used to this. He laid a small, butterfly of a kiss on the top of her head before pulling away from her. It was hard letting go of her, but he chose to see it as a mark of good things to come.
“So, where are we going?” she asked, letting him take her hand as he led her to his truck.
Ares opened the passenger side door and helped her in. Before he closed the door, he chuckled.
“How about you let me run this date, huh? Just sit back and relax, okay?”
The look on Pearl’s face didn’t really tell him whether she was okay with the thought or not. But it didn’t matter – he was still glowing from the hug and it was going to take more than a bit of evil eye to get him to shake it off. Ares jumped into the truck and as he took off, the entirety of Shifter Grove could hear his truck’s wheels dragging along the dirt road.
Pearl didn’t look impressed.
Ares took a beeline for a spot he had found while flying over the surrounding areas when he first arrived. He knew he wanted to take her there the moment he saw it. The drive passed in silence, but Ares didn’t mind, and Pearl didn’t seem to either. It was good to know that they could be quiet around each other without it feeling awkward. The gasp of surprise Pearl gave when he pulled up to their destination fifteen minutes later made up for the wordless drive.
“Wow,” she muttered, her gray eyes filled with wonder. “How in the hell did you find this place?”
“Dragon’s intuition. And aerial surveillance. Mostly the latter.”
It had taken a fine bit of off-roading to find a path that led to that particular outcrop. It overlooked a small waterfall and the hidden natural pool underneath. Lush vegetation grew around it and the scent of wildflowers was almost overwhelming. It was the hei
ght of summer and Ares had the feeling he’d found just the right time to use this little jewel of nature to his advantage.
He hopped out of the truck and helped Pearl out as well, grabbing a picnic blanket and a basket full of food from the bed of his truck.
“I took it upon myself to guess what you like,” he said, putting the checkered cloth down.
He had this all figured out. He also had a tent and some blankets in the truck in case they decided to stay for the night to do some star and each-other gazing. Or if, completely by accident, he happened to get a flat tire…
“It’s beautiful,” Pearl said.
She stood on the edge of the rocky lip, her hands wrapper around herself, looking down at the waterfall. The water from a mountain river flowed past them just a couple dozen feet away, before falling into the pool below. It wasn’t too long of a drop, just fifteen feet or so.
“Not as beautiful as you,” Ares said, stepping up behind her and putting his hands on her waist.
He felt her twitch and when she looked over her shoulder, he could see a smidgen of annoyance crinkling her pretty features. It melted away when she saw the way he was looking at her. It was hard to get angry at a genuine compliment that came from the heart. With another woman, it might have been just a line to use, but with her, he meant it.
His dragon meant it too. In fact, if his dragon had had its way, she’d have been naked and wailing out his name already. Ares pulled away from her when that most inviting thought hit him, the idea spreading through his body and becoming a bit, ahem, uncomfortable. He twirled her around and pointed her towards the blanket and the picnic basket.
“Dinner?”
“Don’t tell me you cooked.”
“Dragons above, no. That’s why we have people who do it professionally – so I wouldn’t have to. Though, I promise, I make a mean scrambled eggs for breakfast,” he said, winking at her.
He didn’t add that scrambled eggs were the only things he could make. Unless burnt toast counted, in which case he could prepare at least two dishes.
