“Ugh,” she groaned. “I need a job.”
“You’re telling me,” Ford said behind her.
She whirled, throwing her arms open in excitement. But he didn’t seem to share the same exuberance. Her smile fell little by little.
Thinking he was upset by the photo, she said, “I can take it down if it bothers you. I just thought that maybe it was time to honor her memory.”
His brow furrowed as his gaze focused and slid past her. She watched his lips part.
“Oh,” he breathed.
“So, that’s not why you didn’t greet me?” Daphne asked nervously.
Her heart stammered. Even though she knew they were mates, fear of rejection kicked in every now and then. It was at its strongest now, filling her with ice. She pressed her knuckles to her sternum and waited.
He shook his head. “Sorry. I’ve been lost in thought a lot lately.”
Daphne didn’t know what that meant. Did he regret asking her to move in with him so soon? Did he want to take this slower? She’d already given him her all, and there was no taking it back.
Silent, Ford ran a hand through his hair. He tore out the tie holding it back and let it flutter around his shoulders. She only now realized that it had grown an inch or so since they’d met. Had time really passed so quickly?
They’d been together for a while. She didn’t understand what could have changed so suddenly.
Ford staggered over to the new couch and dropped down to put his elbows on his knees and stare at his hands. Daphne cocked her head for a moment before following him. She pushed the coffee table aside to kneel before him, so she would be in his field of vision. Yet his gaze remained on his hands.
She took them in hers, making him flinch.
Where had her mate gone? His mind was no longer with them. It had traveled somewhere she couldn’t go. She could call it back, but she didn’t know if he would be able to hear her properly.
“What is it?” she asked, softly.
He didn’t respond at first. He opened his mouth and made a small noise, like all the words had crashed together. She nodded and waited. Not every conversation could come easily, even between mates. Sometimes, she had to be patient.
“Will you still love me…” His voice trailed off, but she could tell that was not all he had to say. After he swallowed and fixed his gaze on hers, he asked, “Will you still love me when I take another life?”
“I watched you bite a man’s hand off.” She smiled.
Ford shook his head and pulled back. Distress radiated from him. Daphne took his hands in hers again and dragged his attention back to her.
“I do not hold any of your actions against you,” she said. “We aren’t vigilantes by any means, but when we are put in a situation like the one we’re in, then we must act to protect others. No other justice system can hold Zander accountable.”
“I’m a killer, Daphne. How can you love me?”
She rested her cheek on his knee. “I love you because you do everything in your power to make me happy. I love you because you didn’t give up when your life seemed bleak. I love you because you found ways to keep going on. You have a steadfastness about you that grounds me.”
His sigh rattled in his chest. She felt his hand on her head, how his fingers threaded through her hair.
“And I can tell that you love me, too. You wouldn’t be so afraid of what I’d think if you didn’t love me.” She smiled, even though he couldn’t see it.
Taking a man’s life probably weighed on him. Ford had been carrying around that burden for years. She could never hold it against him.
“No person is ever perfect. Sure, we took that to the extreme, but that doesn’t mean we should stop trying. We’re going to face everything the future has in store for us together. We’ll never be alone again. I have your back.” She stood and sat beside him.
He cupped the back of her head and brought her close so he could press his forehead to hers. She listened to his breath become steadier and steadier, their heartbeats becoming one. She wound her arms around him and breathed in his scent.
“The only thing I’m uncertain about is what I’m going to do with my own life soon. You and me? We will do whatever it takes to protect this future of ours. Whatever. It. Takes.”
Ford laughed, a sound filled with raw relief, and silenced her with a kiss. Surprise hit her when she felt the wet warmth of his tears. She deepened the kiss, ever hungry for his touch. No amount of him would ever satisfy the aching need in her core. The couch needed to be broken in anyway.
When they were finished and she lounged on the cushions, feeling sated and complete with his body warm behind hers, she knew nothing would shake what they had.
“I think the more important question,” Daphne said lazily, “is how we’re going to get the witch to take an interest in Gavin.”
Ford nuzzled her bare breast. “Maybe you should become a matchmaker.”
She shook her head. “Once Gavin gets it right, I’ll be fresh out of shifters. Maybe I can take on a job at your work. Do they need a manager?”
He nipped her skin. “I’m sending you to Evangeline. The two of you can suffer each other.”
“Or, we can become an unstoppable force that neither you nor Casey can deal with. Be wary of the monsters you make,” she said.
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Ford said.
His hand slid down her stomach to the V of her legs. She parted them, ready for round two. Even though trouble awaited her new clan, she’d never been more relaxed in her life. Funny, how love could feel so tumultuous in the beginning only to become a safe haven in the end.
Maybe she was getting better at this whole work life balance. If not, Ford would surely keep her in check.
Tasting The Forbidden
Rogue Dragon Series - Book 5
65
Nellie Hayes pressed her back to a brick wall in an alley outside her tattoo shop. Her chest heaved, and her lungs clenched tight. She fought to breathe, to calm her racing heart. The problem was, there were two dragon shifters inside her shop.
And one of them was her childhood friend. Evangeline was like a stepsister to Nellie. They’d lived together through their teen years after Nellie’s mom disappeared. That had made them close, but now Evangeline had become the one thing Nellie feared most.
Nellie had always thought of dragon shifters as scaled monstrosities. Her mother had told her horror stories about them all through her youth, about how one witch in their bloodline had been caught by a clan of the scaled shifters. They burned her alive and promised the same to any of her kin should they catch them.
Since listening to those tales, Nellie vowed to keep herself away from any and all shifters, especially the scaled kind. Unfortunately, her small hometown had been overrun by them recently. A clan had set up on the side of the mountain in a massive, luxurious cabin where they could look down on all of them.
While Nellie could have avoided the dragons had they kept to themselves, one of them had come along and fallen for Evangeline. Then another slipped in and mated with her other best friend, Isabella. Now, Nellie had to spend half her days surrounded by shifters.
When she thought her breathing had mostly gone back to normal, she slipped out of the alley and headed toward the shop’s front door. Her pulse quickened at the sight of Evangeline and Daphne inside the shop. Nellie told herself she could do this, that Evangeline would never do anything to hurt her.
A small voice in the back of Nellie’s head thought otherwise. Evangeline had become the enemy. She was no longer on Nellie’s side.
Evangeline perked up, a wide smile taking up her face. “Hey, Nel! I’m just finishing Daphne up.”
Nellie nodded, not trusting her tongue just then. Magic simmered in the back of her mind, a reminder that she was holding a spell at all times. It cloaked her from the dragon she feared the most. As the spell drained her magic reserves, her feet dragged against the floor.
Instead of
letting the spell down, she popped a pod into the single-serve coffee maker and grabbed a snack from their mini-fridge in the back. Nellie could handle the panic attacks from seeing Evangeline and the others, but she would not let Gavin find her ever again.
When Nellie stepped out from the back room with her coffee, she found herself face to face with two excited dragon women. Both Evangeline and Daphne wore the same foolish grin.
Confused, Nellie glanced between them. “Wh-what did I miss?”
“We were just talking about you before you came in,” Daphne crooned.
She seemed nice. Apparently, she was Casey’s little sister, though she seemed far older in spirit. Maybe that was because Daphne had held a position of importance and responsibility in Zander’s clan for years before defecting to join Gavin’s clan. Nellie wanted to like her, but the whole dragon thing really got in the way.
“Are you looking to get a piercing today, too? I know they can be tricky with shifters…”
“You know what we were talking about,” Evangeline said. “When are you going to talk to Gavin? He’s been trying to get in touch with you for so long now. I think it’s starting to make him a little crazy.”
Nellie shrugged. “That’s his problem. Not mine.”
Both Evangeline and Daphne’s brows fell, their lips parting like they were struggling to figure out what to say next. They could try to upsell Gavin all day, but Nellie would never cave. That man was the most dangerous of all, and Nellie knew it. She’d already overstepped her self-imposed boundaries by helping the night Evangeline’s ex tried to set fire to the cabin. The dragons had been a generally unstable bunch back then. When the danger had pushed them over the edge, Nellie had stepped in and thrown a sleeping spell over the arsonists and the dragons.
Ever since then, Gavin had pursued her relentlessly. She didn’t need him haunting her every step. That was why she held the cloaking spell in place. So long as she could keep it up, he wouldn’t see her even if they passed on the street.
“Oh, come on!” Evangeline groaned. “You can’t tell me you don’t think he’s hot. Even a little bit?”
Nellie would have thrown her hands in the air had she not been holding a coffee and a package of fruit snacks. Instead, she served Evangeline with a glare.
“I know your type,” Evangeline said, ignoring Nellie’s silent warning. “He fits all your criteria. He’s tall and hot and has thick hair and tattoos. What’s not to like?”
“I don’t know. How about the fact that he’s a dragon shifter? The kind of people known for burning my—”
The bell over the front door chimed. Nellie pressed her lips into a thin line, cutting off any words that might have escaped her in that moment.
A local walked up to the desk, giving Nellie a chance to escape the conversation for the time being. She wrote the guy into the schedule book and invited Evangeline over to take a look at what he wanted done. Nellie was grateful for the reprieve while Evangeline talked art with her prospective client.
The conversation wasn’t over, though. Just on pause. Because the moment the guy left, Evangeline and Daphne went right back to pressuring Nellie to give in to Gavin. Nellie wished, briefly, that she could breathe dragon fire just to get the two of them off her back.
“Gavin’s always been…” Daphne struggle for the right word. “Quiet. He dated Tiffany forever. We all thought she was his mate. That old opposites attract adage had us all convinced. Then Gavin up and left. I’ve never seen him as interested in anyone other than you.”
“Yeah,” Nellie proclaimed. “That’s because I’m a witch. Dragons hate witches!”
Daphne looked taken aback. “I don’t hate you. I certainly wouldn’t wish you any ill will.”
The words took the fight out of Nellie. She’d been fighting for far too long, pushing and drawing new lines in the sand to keep these dragons at bay. They’d practically overrun her life.
“Just talk to him, Nel.” Evangeline slapped the new client’s art onto her desk, probably to deal with later. “If the two of you can get on the same page, then maybe you won’t have to run from him your whole life. He’s not an unreasonable man.”
Nellie snorted. “Maybe I’m an unreasonable woman.”
“That would certainly make more sense,” Evangeline said without turning around.
“Watch your mouth before I curse you,” Nellie said.
Evangeline tossed a look over her shoulder, a gleam in her eyes. Nellie could almost feel Evangeline’s gaze raking down the fresh white streak in Nellie’s dark hair.
“You don’t have anything left to curse with. And even if you did curse me, I’d just turn Isabella loose on you.”
Nellie sighed. “So, what am I supposed to do? Ring him up and tell him that I appreciate his gifts, but I don’t want to be caught dead with him?”
“You don’t have to be so dramatic,” Daphne said. She was still perched on the padded bench. “Gavin isn’t going to hurt you. And, even if he wanted to, the clan wouldn’t let him.”
Daphne’s promise of protection eased a tight knot that had been cutting off Nellie’s air for weeks. She hadn’t expected anything like that from the dragons. Maybe Evangeline, but not this new girl who’d been born a dragon and inundated in all their archaic ways.
Nellie wanted to ask why, but she didn’t dare prod further. She just wanted to get this day over with so she could forget this entire conversation.
“I’ll think about it,” she said.
Evangeline sighed. Daphne threw her feet to the floor, stood, and asked Evangeline if there was anything she could do to help around the shop. It seemed Daphne had a load of free time on her hands. Nellie couldn’t help but wonder if Daphne had been placed here to keep watch on Nellie. She would hate to have to conceal herself from Daphne, too.
Not because she didn’t want to lose a possible friend, but because Nellie knew her magic stores would soon run out.
* * *
Gavin stood on the balcony outside his bedroom. He kept the uppermost suite to himself, and he liked it that way, especially with the clan growing larger and larger every day. He’d never planned on taking so many shifters under his protection. At first, he hadn’t minded the three guys.
They were his brothers, in every way but blood. Casey had always been by his side. Dillon and Erik were just the kind of men he needed in his life. The mates had caught Gavin off guard. Most of them were shifters now, and thus harder to kill when war crashed on their doorstep.
They should have been Gavin’s concern, but his thoughts were consumed by someone else. There was hardly a moment in his day when he wasn’t thinking about the witch. Each night, when he closed his eyes, he saw her walk through fire for him. He felt the calming wave of her magic wash over him and drag his beast into a deep sleep.
The beast, awake and all too eager for the witch’s attention, shook itself. It wanted Gavin to take to the skies. Normally, he gave in and let the beast roam his mountain. The sun was high, though, and there were no clouds to be seen for miles. With no room to hide, he couldn’t risk being seen.
Which meant he had to deal with his beast’s irate disposition and its gnawing hunger for the witch. He’d only seen her briefly, that one time, but he could remember every detail about her from her curving figure to the angle of her dark hair over her shoulders. Most of all, he remembered the desperation in her eyes.
She wanted to help, but she was too afraid.
Of him.
He knew the truth. She sometimes hung out with others from his clan, but any time Gavin joined them she promptly vanished. He could smell her on them, on the air. No matter how hard he searched, what stones he overturned, he couldn’t find her on his own. The witch refused to give him even a moment of her time.
He glanced back at the corner of his bedroom filled with presents that had been returned. A plush sloth slumped in the corner, surrounded by boxes of shoes, candy, and other things Evangeline had told him Nellie would appreciate. Either Evange
line had been pulling his leg, or Nellie wanted nothing to do with him.
But he couldn’t let her go.
Not when his beast wanted to get to know her. The manic creature would fight to reach her, one way or another. He trusted the creature to stay away from humanity when he shifted, but he didn’t trust it not to take the reins when he was in town. More than once, Gavin had fought for control of himself while out with his clan.
So, he stayed away. He couldn’t afford to lose control right now. His father was breathing down his neck. Zander had never wanted to give his clan over to his son and had searched for any way to disown Gavin. When Tiffany left…
The beast no longer snarled at the thought of her. Whatever claim it had made over her had been forgotten when the witch walked into his life. While Gavin was grateful that he no longer yearned for the wretched woman he once thought of as his mate, he didn’t know how long he could keep going without someone else to love.
Losing Tiffany had nearly turned his beast feral. Even now, it paced and snapped like a pissed off gator being prodded with golf clubs. Gavin didn’t know how long he had until the beast retaliated. He liked to think that he wouldn’t snap on his clan. They were part of the reason he had held onto his sanity this long.
If he could not find someone new to protect, to claim, Gavin wouldn’t last.
66
Nellie’s head swam. She put a hand on the nearby brick wall. Her vision blurred. She blinked it away while the cloaking spell hummed at the base of her skull. Her heart thundered because she knew the spell would soon collapse.
She had nothing left.
The magic she’d been relying so hard on was about to give way. Would it break and shatter, leaving her with nothing? Or would a good night’s rest leave her feeling rejuvenated? She’d never pushed this hard, so there was no way of knowing if her life would be forever changed.
Rogue Dragons Series: Box Set Books 1-5 Page 54
