A Mate to Embrace

by Riley Storm

  “What does that have to do with you?” she wanted to know.

  “I have stronger desires now, for things I didn’t in the past. I’m more willing to go and get them, to share how I feel. I won’t hold it back. Like I may have done in the past.”

  His eyes bore into her, and Grace knew he was talking about him and her. About how his feelings for her had never changed, but that now, unlike before, he wasn’t going to hold back and pretend like they didn’t exist.

  In the past everyone had told her that he was interested in her, but Braz had always shrugged it off. She was with Jack, he’d said, and Braz would respect that. He’d never outright admitted that he cared for her. That wasn’t his way.

  “I never thought coming back here would be like this,” she said softly.

  “Like what?”

  “Painful,” she said bluntly. “So many memories, so much of my past being dug up. Jack, you, so many things I wish I’d done differently then. Things I did that I wish I didn’t. Like not listening to you. Gah, if only I’d not been so young and stupid!”

  Braz shrugged. “I probably could have been more diplomatic about it. Or perhaps had someone else tell you, so that you didn’t think I was trying to manipulate you into leaving him for me.”

  “Or I could have just stopped denying the truth of it all,” Grace pointed out. “At some point, things have to fall on me, Braz. I have to take responsibility for my actions. I can’t pawn it off on someone else forever.”

  He frowned. “You blamed me?”

  Grace sighed. “Yes. I did. For the longest time I blamed you for it all. For embarrassing me by telling me that Jack was cheating. I denied it. Everyone knew we’d had a fight, and over what, but nobody else came forward and told me that he was doing it. Only you.”

  “I see.”

  “It wasn’t fair of me to blame you Braz. It really wasn’t, and I’m sorry, even if you didn’t know I was doing it, I’m sorry. There’s still a lot of pain there. Pain and shame.”

  “You don’t need to be ashamed,” Braz said as they stepped back against the front of the building to let an elderly couple pass hand in hand, the four of them exchanging smiles and polite nods. “There is nothing to be ashamed about.”

  “That’s nice of you to say, but we both know that’s not true. I made a fool of myself by yelling at you, saying you were just trying to use me, etc. I was dumb.”

  “Not dumb,” Braz said defiantly. “Just scared. It happens, you know. We do things like that all the time. Emotions are strong, stronger than we know. They can sneak up on us, surprise us with their intentions and meanings. We may never see it coming.”

  Grace watched his face as he spoke. There was a memory there, a truth to his words as if spoken from personal experience.

  She couldn’t go down this path with him, she knew. Not now, not after everything that had transpired between them in the past. Grace was carrying too much guilt, and she’d yet to completely rid herself of the anger she’d let simmer toward Braz for so long.

  It wouldn’t be fair to him if she let things continue.

  “Come on,” Braz said pointing down the street. “Let’s go spend more of my money. If you won’t let me spend it on you, then you can come spend it for me. I need some new clothes.”

  “Braz there’s like, two stores we could go to.”

  “Ah,” he said with a grin. “But one of those is a suit store, where they know me quite well. I could always use some new suits.”

  Grace shook her head, thankful for the distraction. Gesturing for him to lead the way she fell in step beside him. Despite everything she’d just told herself, there was a little less space between them now.

  It was all so confusing.

  I just wish I could understand what the heck was going on between us!

  It took her another half dozen steps to realize that she’d just acknowledged that something was going on between them.

  Uh oh. I am not ready for that. Not yet.

  Grace pulled away just a little, opening up a few more inches of space as they walked.

  She needed more time.

  Assuming I’m ever ready for something like that…

  Chapter Seventeen

  Braz

  He could see Grace eyeing the hotel as they walked along the streets. It rose up several stories, visible even from a street and a half over, one of the taller buildings in Five Peaks, even though it only had four floors. There simply was no need to build upward. The vast majority of buildings along the main street and nearby were one or two story affairs. Occasionally some rose up to the third floor, but they were rare.

  He wanted to push, to see if he could get her to stay at his place again. Despite his best efforts, she had packed her car full of her stuff before they’d come into town, telling him that she wanted to be ready, just in case.

  At least she was being open and upfront about it, not planning anything in secret. Grace was telling him exactly how she felt, and where her mind was at. He wouldn’t have to guess, she would let him know, and there was a bit of relief in that.

  If you push too hard on the hotel issue though, she’s going to do just that. She’ll feel you trying to force the issue in your favor, and then she’ll go right back over and rent a room.

  Or worse, she would head right back to Kennewick Falls. Then she would be out of his reach.

  The only upside was that, if she left town, she would be out of Wilson’s reach as well. While Braz wasn’t as confident as Grace that she was no longer a person of interest, he was beginning to suspect she was right. With Wilson having gone to ground, it suggested he’d either got what he wanted, or found something that he didn’t like.

  Either way, he was no longer looking for anything, which meant he didn’t need Grace.

  Braz just wished that Carla would get back to him. He’d been checking his phone as surreptitiously as he could, but there was still no word from her. The search for Wilson needed to start in earnest, that much was for certain. He could not be allowed to keep possession of whatever he’d found.

  Knowing that Jack had helped hack into several of the different Clan’s bank accounts in an attempt to rob them was enough on its own. If he’d left information behind, Wilson would be able to do the same as well. That could not be allowed to happen.

  “Everything okay Braz?” Grace asked as they walked along the strip.

  The pair had spent the entire day wandering around town. A stop at Five Peaks Pub for lunch, where Braz had been sure to tip the owners Pete and Melissa extra. The dragons were making a conscious effort to ensure that the bar succeeded, even if it wasn’t their preferred place.

  “Oh sure,” he said, knowing he didn’t sound believable at all.

  “No word from Carla yet, is there?” she teased.

  “You know?”

  “Braz, you’ve been checking your phone every time you think I’m not looking. Please don’t treat me like I’m that blind.

  “You’re right. I have been,” he admitted with a sigh. “I just want the information on Wilson’s whereabouts. Once I have that, I can go there, get back whatever it is he stole from you, and end this entire thing. I’ll feel much better knowing for certain that you’re safe.”

  Grace smiled and, to his utter surprise, leaned her head in on his shoulder for several steps. “That’s about what I figured it was. I appreciate you looking out for me, I really do, but Braz, they didn’t steal anything from me. I don’t want it, I didn’t want it. I’m not a part of this. You need to relax.”

  He started to protest, but she continued, lifting her head away.

  “And that means stop trying to burn the hotel down with your eyes,” she added. “Don’t think I don’t see you glaring at it. I can read your mind.”

  Of course she could read his mind. They had a connection. A very deep connection, one that would only grow stronger if Grace would open herself up to it. Braz had no doubts by this point that the two of them were mates. He could feel it in hi
s very soul. His dragon knew it, it longed to reach out and hold her, sweep her up in his arms and show her just how she deserved to be treated.

  But Grace had to make that choice as well. This wasn’t solely up to him. Braz was treading on thin ice. If he pushed too hard, too fast, she would run away. Possibly forever. He couldn’t have that. So he had to go slow.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, sighing heavily. “It’s just, we don’t know for sure, right? That uncertainty, that lack of confirmation, it leaves me worried. It’s my job to keep you safe, because it’s my world that’s caused you to be in this position in the first place.”

  “You said yourself that Wilson disappeared. He’s not after me, Braz. People do that when someone else is after them. He’s scared of you!”

  Braz frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense. He has no reason to be afraid of me.”

  “Um, the warehouse you destroyed? I’d say so.”

  “Maybe,” he agreed. “But it just doesn’t feel right. He’s dealt with my family before. He’s always tried to negotiate. It never ended well, but he never ran away. Why start now? If he had something we wanted, he would try to sell it back to us. For a massive profit. We don’t scare him, because he knows we won’t actually kill him.”

  Braz’s frown deepened. “Which begs the question. If he’s hiding because he’s afraid. Who is he afraid of?”

  Grace was quiet. “You think there’s someone else?”

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But it does fit the logic. It’s something to keep in mind.”

  “I see.”

  Grace’s tone set off warning bells. She was growing tired of discussing everything that was going on. She still didn’t believe in the danger that was present, and nothing he could say was going to change that.

  Which is fair, because everything so far is just conjecture.

  “Getting hungry?” he asked. “I know a good place for dinner. I know it’s a bit early, but…”

  “No, you know what, dinner and a drink would be nice,” Grace said. “It would be really, really nice. Something to take our minds off everything.”

  Braz started walking again, gesturing for her to turn right at the next street.

  “Are you really taking me to Rocky’s?” Grace complained, recognizing where they were heading.

  Braz just grinned. He had figured she would clue in to where he was taking them long before they got there. Rocky’s Roadhouse had a bit of a reputation around Five Peaks as being the degenerate dive bar where all the older people went to talk about the ‘good ole days’.

  Or at least, it used to have that reputation.

  “The Dragon’s Eye?” Grace said as they waited for a car to pass and then crossed the street. “What happened to Rocky’s?”

  “It got sold. Then the woman who bought it fell in love with a dragon. A dragon who just so happened to destroy much of the interior in a drunken fight before pulling himself together. So they remodeled it.”

  “Oh my god,” Grace chuckled, the noise turning into a full on guffaw as she bent over at the waist. “This is too good.”

  “What?”

  “You have a biker bar for dragons!” she exclaimed, then covered her mouth and looked around in a panic.

  Thankfully nobody seemed to hear her, or understand what she meant.

  “I’m sorry,” Grace said, shaking her head. “I wasn’t thinking.”

  “It’s fine. Besides, you’re right,” he said, holding the door open for it. “I’d never thought about it that way, but it kind of is.”

  Entering the bar, he waved at the short woman behind the counter. “Hey Anne!”

  She looked up, peering at him through bangs of midnight hair and tossed a rag-holding hand in the air at him. “Hello Braz. Good to see you.”

  “That’s Kal’s mate,” he said. “And that oaf over there trying to look tough is Kal.”

  He pointed at a tall blond shifter doing his best to look intimidating. The act was destroyed when he broke into a broad grin at the sight of the two of them and waved.

  They sat down at a table and a moment later a young male approached.

  “What is it?” Grace asked.

  “I don’t know,” he said, watching the teenager warily. He’d never seen him before.

  “Hi there, welcome to the Eye. I’m Tio, what can I get you today?” he asked, pulling out a pad of paper and a little pen.

  “You work here,” Braz observed in surprise.

  “Sure do. Just started a couple of days ago. Anne hired me and my brother Stave to help her out.”

  “Your last name?” Braz asked, feeling confident he could narrow it down to one of five names.

  “Rixa,” the youth said. “You?”

  “Aterna.”

  The two shared a knowing smile, comfortable in the presence of kin, even though they were from a different clan.

  “What did I just miss?” Grace asked, looking back and forth at the two of them.

  “He’s one of us,” Braz explained. “That’s all.”

  It was good to see that not only was the Eye doing well enough to need help, but that it was giving the young shifters a place to come into town and acclimatize themselves to humans. Braz was a firm believer that they needed to better merge the two cultures.

  “Got it.” Grace said, her eyes returning to the menus that were kept on the tables.

  The pair ordered food and drinks, then sat back quietly, a nervous silence between them.

  Braz frowned to himself, careful to keep his face blank.

  What the heck was he supposed to do now?

  Chapter Eighteen

  Grace

  Dinner had come and gone and now they were nursing their drinks, each wondering what the other was going to suggest they do next.

  At least, that’s what Grace was doing.

  To her relief, dinner had consisted of little more than small talk. Life, the world around them, nothing of consequence. Both of them had worked to steer away from the topic of each other, and also Wilson and that whole wild thing. It was a nice relief, but she was dreading what would come next.

  How is he going to handle me telling him I’m going back to the hotel for the night?

  There was no doubt that the bed at Braz’s place was comfier. It wasn’t even a competition. Saving money would be nice too, but Grace knew she had to do it this way. For her. If she went back to his place, she didn’t trust herself not to give in.

  It wasn’t that she felt nothing toward Braz. There was…something there. Coming back to Five Peaks and seeing him again had rekindled that. Made it stronger, perhaps, now that there was no barrier between them, no firm reason to say no.

  That was exactly why she was going to stay at the hotel tonight. Grace had no reason to say no, but she wasn’t ready to say yes, to open herself up to the idea and explore it. The idea terrified her, she just didn’t know if it was what she wanted.

  I need some time to myself, without that handsome face and gorgeous body influencing my decisions. That’s what I need.

  “Grace?”

  She blinked, focusing her attention back on the present. “What? Sorry, pardon, what did you say?”

  “I was just asking you if you’ve got any more questions. About what I am. You’ve had some time to assimilate it now, and yeah. I figured you may as well get them out here.”

  “Hmmm.” She thought about it, but her mind wasn’t really focused on that. “Not really, not at this time I don’t think. I’m still kind of like ‘holy crap I can’t believe’ sort of thing. You know?”

  “Yeah, I do,” he said. “Kind of. I mean I was born into it, but we talk a lot about the best way to go about revealing it to humans when we must, and how they’re likely to react. What to anticipate, etc. Doesn’t mean we always do a good job. I’m sure we rarely do,” he added with a laugh.

  “I mean, it was abrupt. And…yeah, you know what maybe you have a point,” she said, chuckling. “But I’m doing surprisingly okay about i
t now. I think if anything I’m more surprised that I’m not more surprised. If that sentence makes any sense.”

  Braz joined her in light laughter. “I had to replay it a second time, but I get what you’re saying now. I’m not too surprised though. You always were smart and adaptable.”

  “I’m afraid that it’s just going to blow up at some point. Like my brain is all of a sudden going to have a meltdown as it tries to comprehend that you really are a—that you really are what you are,” she said, changing up what she was going to say.

  “I don’t see that happening,” Braz told her.

  “Why?”

  He smiled tightly. “Call it intuition.”

  Grace knew he wasn’t telling her everything, that he was holding something back, but she didn’t force it. She wasn’t sure she wanted to. He would tell her when he was ready.

  “I have a question for you,” he said before she could speak again.

  “Okay.” Grace was fairly positive she knew what it was going to be.

  “Will you humor me?” Braz asked bluntly. “I know you don’t think it’s an issue anymore, but would you consider just humoring me and staying with me tonight?”

  Grace started to open her mouth to respond, but Braz was already speaking again.

  “I mean like, not with-me with-me, but like, at the house. My house. The Clan Aterna house that is,” he stammered. “The same room you stayed in last night. Again. Tonight. Yeah.”

  She bit back a laugh as he bowed his head and rubbed at his eyes. There was no trying to pretend he hadn’t just said all that. Especially not when she thought it was rather cute of him.

  “Would it really make you feel that much more comfortable?” she asked, watching him carefully. She’d been intending to say no, but it seemed that this was bugging him more than she’d thought.

  “Yes,” Braz said quietly. “It would. If you stay with—at the Clan house—and nothing happens, you get to make fun of me, and all is well. If something does happen, you’re safe. If you stay at the hotel and something happens…”